Transcription
All right. Title of this video is how I make $30 an hour driving Uber and Lyft. So, I've been at this a while. 10 years, 32,000 rides. I've seen it all. Fog and rain, bar rushes, airport chaos, sunrise and heartbreaks. Just this morning, it was a half a moon that was just right on the horizon. It was orange and huge. Absolutely amazing.
These days though, I don't drive full-time. I drive part-time on the weekends, just Saturday and Sunday morning. And I consistently make over $30 an hour. I drive five hours each day. And I consistently make over $300 uh for for my time. Um I would say most drivers in the Sacramento area make between 20 and 25. So what magic powers do I have? Well, it's not magic. It's not luck. It's strategy. It's strategy and discipline and experience. So, how do I do it? Well, that's a really smart question. And that's what this video is designed to share with you the five strategies I use to ensure that I make $30 an hour. And stick around to the end. I'm going to share with you why visualization plays such an important role in your success. So, all that and a lot more coming right up.
Hey everybody, it's Jay Crater with the ride share guy drinking a little espresso from my Bluebird coffee coffee mug from the Bluebird Cafe in Iowa City, Iowa. That's right. This mug has been around. Yes, it has. Okay. I know a few drivers here in Sacramento, and I know they'll work all day and make a couple hundred dollar. I mean like a 10-hour day and make a couple hundred dollar whereas I go out in six hours I'm looking to make uh $200. So that's a lot of time that you can bring back into your life. Less gas, less wear and tear in your car, more time for your life. So what's the difference? Let's just get right into it.
Number one, and I know this is like beating a dead horse, but so many drivers that I talk to when I'm a passenger only drive for either Uber or Lift. So, number one is use both apps, Uber and Lyft. The days where you could rely on just one to keep you busy are over. There's just too many drivers. Just too many drivers. So, you got to have uh two fishing poles in the water. Uh and that's so important. And I've talked to some drivers and they say, "Well, I had an issue with Uber. I had an issue with Lyft." Get in there and fix it because it's just costing you money. I mean, you just can't keep going on with just one. So, you got to get two. Here's a quote. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. Keep your options open and your engine running. And that is an old trucking proverb. So, use both Uber and Lyft. Absolutely.
Number two, don't take lowpaying rides. Do not take lowpaying rides. When I started out, uh, Sergio used to call me an ant. And that meant I took every single ride that came my way. Now, back then it didn't really matter so much because every ride I got 80% of the fair. So, didn't really matter, right? Um, but these days where every ride is priced different, um, in a past video I showed that some of the rides I got offered were under $20 per hour and some of the rides I got offered were at $60 per hour. So, you really got to do your calculations. And what I do in Sacramento is I don't take any ride that is less than $25 per hour. If it's 26 or more, then I will take it. So, how do you calculate that? Well, with Lyft, super simple, right? They just tell you exactly what the number is. Um, but with Uber, you got to you got to kind of think about it. And definitely more of my rides in Sacramento are with Uber. I would say Uber keeps me more busy. So, let's uh let's look at one example. I'm going to put it up on the screen. And this was actually my first ride this morning. You can see that it was at 2:00 uh 209 and a very typical uh most of my rides come from the casino. So this was 9 minutes to get to the casino, 10 minute drive, not almost $10. So the way you got to calculate it really quick is you add up the time two and the time of the ride. So that's 19. Divide it in half, it's about 9 and a half. If the dollar amount is more than that, then it's more than $30 per hour. This was a banger. I took this one. I also got a $5 tip on this. So, again, the way you want to do it is uh you add up the the minutes to get there and the minutes of the ride, and then you compare that, divide that in two, and if the dollar amount is more than that, then uh then you got a good ride. So, in this case, it was 19 divide that in half, that's nine and a half. The dollars were 9.84. So that means this was an over $30 per hour ride. So that's what you got to do. Calculate it real quick. And if it doesn't work, that's it. Now, what I'm showing you now are my stats. U which uh uh this is from from Uber. So you can see my profile. I I cancel 12% of my rides. I only accept two out two out of three. And that's because they pay low. So I've got a 60% and this is based on the last 100 rides. So I declined 34 out of 100 rides. And uh if you look at the cancel trips, I cancel 12 out of 100. Now when that happens, that means I've accepted a ride and I'm driving towards it. And then I still keep the Lyft app on. And if a lift gives me a ride that's going to pay me more per hour, then I will cancel the Uber ride and I will go with the lift ride. And that's where my cancellations come from. So don't be afraid to cancel. Don't be afraid not to accept and and and just turn down the rides that aren't worth your time. Here's a quote now uh for this section. Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. And that was Carl Sandberg.
Okay. Number three is drive when most drivers don't. So I drive early. I like to get out by 2:30 in the morning and be done by like 8:30 or 7:30 somewhere in there. Like I drove this morning and it's now uh a quarter until 8. So I got in like 5 hours, made my 150 and that's it. I'm done. Most drivers aren't out in the morning at this hour. And that's why I stay busy. I don't have any downtime. I'm just going from ride to ride to ride to ride. The other good time to drive is, of course, late at night on the weekends. A lot of drivers don't want to do that. I'm one of those drivers. But if you do do that, you're going to get some drunk people, but you're going to make some good money. So, you don't want to be the guy that wakes up at 8, you know, drinks the coffee in the morning and is driving at 9:00 9 in the morning. You go from 9:00 in the morning till, you know, 5 in the afternoon. That's a long shift, but there's so many drivers doing that that you're just not going to make the kind of money that you're going to want to make. The quote here is uh go to bed early and wake up early. The morning hours are a treasure chest. I didn't know Benjamin Franklin said that, but that's what he said.
Number four, don't drive tired. Okay, if you're tired, everything feels like a grind. And if it feels like a grind, your passengers pick up on that and it really is going to hurt your tips. And it's also um when I'm driving tired, I just don't have the excitement about getting $30 an hour. I just kind of go through the motions and whatever comes my way and it's it's it's just doesn't work. Basically, it doesn't work. So, get your sleep. Make sure you're rested. Drink your coffee if you drink coffee and and and go, right? And uh I don't recommend you do long long shifts. I I do four to five hours because I can stay fresh. If I were going to do a longer shift, then I would take a break, maybe take a cold shower, um, eat some food, and get regenerated for the next the next shift. Now, the quote here is from Vince Lombardi. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. That's an excellent, excellent quote.
Number five, work those tips. Those tips add a lot. you take a you take a 25 $25 an hour and you add a tip of $5 and boom, you know, you suddenly you made $30 an hour. So, um the the key to tips is of course uh speaking to the customer and listening to what they say and reading their energy and just kind of mirroring their energy. It's like the the basic thing they teach you in sales. just mirror the person uh that's in front of you and they relax, they feel comfortable and that's the best kind of receptive space you can get somebody into. Same same with same with us as as drivers. Sometimes I'm like, "Woohoo, you're going to the airport, you know, and they're like totally chill and I got to then chill, right?" So, u but when they do want to interact, ask ask an opening question like, "Wow, where are you going?" you know, and then just get interested in what they're saying and uh be very complimentary and uh you know, acknowledge something that they're doing that's pretty cool. And these are the things that help people relax and and at the end of the ride, they're going to say, "Oh, that was an excellent ride. Felt good." Of course, you got to have your clean car. Um car smells good. You know, you're playing you're not playing loud, thunderous music. You know, the basics. Um but just engage with people in a way that they feel um heard, listened to and acknowledged. The quote for this section is, "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." And that of course is the great Maya Angelou.
Okay, so what are the what are the key takeaways here? Well, I made a little graphic for you. Um, first use both Uber and Lyft. Expand your opportunities. Two, don't take lowpaying rides. Value your time. Drive when most don't. Be where the action is. Don't drive tired. And work those tips. Now, the last thing that I want to say in a key takeaway is I visualize finishing the shift and having the money in the bank that I I set my goal for. So, I actually see myself at the end, you know, cashing out and and making that money. And I think this is one of one of the great secrets of life is that if you can start to see something, then it actually starts to manifest in you and in reality. So, when you start out, just take a moment and just think, how do I want this to go? Instead of just going any which way, in which case, the wind can blow you anyway. H, you know, know your end point. For me, it's $300 a weekend, two five two five hour shifts, 150 each each time. And and then I go out and I'm just like, "Okay, this is going this is happening. This is happening." And and and have that vision because that vision will make an impact. Try it out. Try it out. I guarantee you uh you'll be surprised how much different a shift can go when you have a target and a goal and and you can see it uh versus just starting to drive and seeing what happens. So, those are the five strategies. Uh incorporate them in into what you're doing and join me in the $30 per hour revenue club. Okay. Uh go out and have a great day. Be safe out there. Uh if you got someone to go tell them, tell them you love them. Absolutely. Go tell them you love them. Uh, today's Easter, so I'll say happy Easter and uh yeah, take care of.