Deliver on Your Business

It's not uncommon for someone to discover while delivering part time that delivering for Doordash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and others feels like it's earning more than their day job. Does it make sense to quit and just deliver full time?

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We interrupt these show notes to put in a shameless plug for the 31 Day Courier MBA email course. There are still spaces open. Sign up before the deadline.

You can follow along on the associated blog post here.

There's no one right answer. It can be the perfect decision for some, a terrible decision for someone else. It depends on outlook, temperament, location, so many things.

Episode 44 got into this full time question. It was more of a pro's and con's of full time delivery where this approach was more methodical. Maybe check out both. This week we walk through 7 Steps:

Step 1: Build a Business mindset. You are running a business. Think like a business owner. Sign up for the 31 Day Courier MBA email course, or check out Episodes 1-31.

Step 2: Understand the Bigger Picture. Check out Episode 3. It's all about getting to know your why. Ask yourself how fulltime delivery fits in with the bigger picture of who you are and what you want to do with your life. We reference interviews with Mike Bisceglia and Kevin Ha.

Step 3: Is it Sustainable? Know what you need. Start with a budget (this info from Dave Ramsey might help). Episode 18 digs into understanding what your car actually costs. The Financial Panther blog digs into pros and cons of contractor vs employee.

Step 4: Do some Market Research. What's happening in your market to help or hurt independent contractor status? New York had a ruling stating a Postmates contractor driver was an employee. What other things can change in your area to impact earnings potential?

Step 5: Get ready. Do the things you need to do to be ready. You can check out our affiliate Amazon link to the book we mentioned in the episode: Quitter by Jon Acuff. See our article on giving yourself a paycheck. Here's our article on deciding what to save for taxes.

Step 6: Develop an exit plan. What is your ultimate goal? How do you want to get there? If you haven't started thinking through this, at least get the process rolling.

Step 7: Decide and Execute. What are you going to do? Set a plan, decide when it makes sense, and then do whatever you decide.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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The AB5 is hitting the fan.

California has won an injunction forcing Uber and Lyft to use employees as of August 21. As it stands right now, they state they intend to shut down there temporarily.

What does this mean for delivery contractors with Grubhub Doordash Uber Eats Postmates Instacart and others?

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BUT BEFORE WE DIVE IN:

Are you signed up yet for the 31 Day Courier MBA email course? Starting September 1, we'll send out 31 daily emails helping you Master your Business Attitude (MBA - See what I did there?).

We're limiting the number of participants to make it manageable.

And oh yeah: I'm not charging for the course.

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Sign up now for the 31 Day Courier MBA: 31 Days to a more profitable delivery business.

You can read up on the topic for today on the associated blog post for Episode 85.

We look back at some things I said in Episode 52 and Episode 51.

Here are links to articles we reference

TechCrunch article announcing the state's preliminary injunction against Uber and Lyft. (Note, in the podcast I mentioned that nothing was decided on the actual case. I should clarify - there was a state court decision that Uber and Lyft had misclassified employees. However, the companies are appealing - the preliminary injunction is meant to enforce that ruling rather than have the companies drag it out in court.

Instacart and Doordash are probably next, having been sued by local governments.

This Marketwatch article explains why Uber Eats is not included in the injunction

California may themselves be in violation of AB5 - hiring contractors at the EDD

The New York Times reports that Uber and Lyft are looking into a franchise model.

Here's our article from March about the New York court of appeals ruling on Postmates.

ProAct includes language making the ABC test a national law. Joe Biden has pledged to sign it.

Our article on what AB5 means nationwide and on why the gig economy might come to an end.

The importance of having an exit plan

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
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We're excited to have Kevin Ha from Financial Panther join us today to talk about delivery.

Kevin paid off over $80,000 in debt in just over two years by diving into side hustles, including delivery. His Financial Panther blog provides a lot of great advice about money, saving, side hustles and taking control of your life.

And oh, by the way, he's been knocking out 5 to 6 deliveries per hour, on his e-Bike, averaging about $40 bucks an hour in the process.

So we had to pick his brain about how he's doing that.

You can read the transcript on the associated blog post on EntreCourier.com

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

We're doing something new here. 

Launching a course.

And it's free. Our podcast audience is getting the first shot at the course. 

The 31 Day Courier MBA Course: 31 Days to a More Profitable Delivery Business.

Class begins September 1, 2020.

For the inaugural class, we're capping the number of signups at 50 participants.

Unfortunately, there's no diploma. No degree. It's not that kind of MBA.

MBA stands for Master your Business Attitude.

This is an email course. Each day for 31 days you will receive an email helping walk through different business concepts, and how can we apply those to our business.

And for everyone that completes all the homework (yes, there will be homework) a special thank you gift to our podcast audience is a free Independent Delivery Pro polo shirt.

Sign up here and grab your spot in the 31 Day Courier MBA Course.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

For the associated blog post with screenshots and links you can go to the website page for Episode 83

UDM broke the story on his Youtube channel that Uber Eats is rolling out a change in the delivery offer display in some markets.

"Starting today, you'll see an upfront price that includes the expected customer tip. This is based on what your customer adds upon checkout. The exact tip amount may change as customers have 1 hour after delivery to edit or change their tip."

Early last year Uber Eats rolled out a change where customers could tip when placing the order. But they still allow you to edit or change the tip. That's a good thing but it's also something that could make this change a disaster. We talk about why in this episode.

Some other relevant links mentioned in today's episode:

My article on reverse cherry picking.

An earlier article referring to accusations that Doordash was stealing tips.

Earlier this week we posted about Grubhub's minimum pay during the pandemic

One concern with the new practice is customers could begin tip baiting - a practice that has been a problem with Instacart customers.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
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Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

What is the experience like delivering for Doordash?

I go through my own thoughts and observations on what it's like.

With a heavy dose of opinion thrown in.

If you are thinking of signing up to deliver for Doordash, either as a brand new courier or to add to your arsenal of delivery partners, you might be able to get a bonus if you use my referral link. If you deliver so many deliveries within so much time and you used my link, you may qualify for a bonus. The bonus varies based on how badly Doordash needs couriers in your market.

In the fall we did a series on whether the different platforms were good delivery partners. That series took a bigger picture look at each app. Episode 38 of the podcast talked about Doordash (and to date has been my most downloaded episode - by a long shot!)

You can see some of the screenshots that I refer to on this week's episode by going to the associated blog post for Episode 82.

This is the third of a 3 part series.

Episode 80 talked about what it's like to deliver for Uber Eats.

Episode 81 talked about what it's like to deliver for Grubhub.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

What is it like to deliver with Grubhub?

We get into some of the great things about them.

We also delve into some of the challenges that I see.

You can read the associated blog post for Episode 81 on EntreCourier.com.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

Before we get into the show notes: If you're able to at all, this is a good one to follow on the blog post. We have screen shots of things from the Uber Eats app that, seeing the shots (and viewing the video about verifying you have a mask on) really help add to this episode.

Okay, on to the shown notes:

Three things I talk about prior to today's topic:
Check out Mike Delivers podcast. Mike was our guest in Episode 79, and he's got a special guest this week.
If you haven't applied for the Paycheck Protection Program Loan, there's still time - it's open until August 8 (Plan on applications shutting down a few days earlier). This is a referral link.
Tomorrow, July 15, is the tax deadline. You can still get some help figuring out taxes at https://entrecourier.com/tax-guide.

What's it like to deliver Uber Eats?

In the fall we did a series on whether delivery apps were good ones to deliver for. That one focused on a lot of things about the apps themselves, but I wanted to dig into what the experience itself is like. Episode 45 is when we looked at Uber Eats.

I mention getting a delivery bag: Episode 55 dives into why that's a good idea. You can get an inexpensive entry level bag here

Check out the associated blog post for a video, a screen recording of the process of verifying COVID-19 precautions

We also have screen shots of offer screens and the progression of improvements Uber Eats has been making.

You can read about the reverse cherry picking approach to offers on Uber Eats here.

I talk about the 40 cent rule that I use for other platforms - not having tip information does make it harder to use that on Uber Eats.

Uber Eats made some improvements to information they provided but at the same time moved to a less transparent pay model in Episode 46.

Another improvement Uber Eats has made is in doing better encouraging tips.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

The story came out about Sam Lyon, who decided to put in 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, delviering Uber Eats for the month of June. In the end, he made $8,357, which is a $100,000 per year pace.

Before we go further into that, a few notes:

First, the associated blog post for today's episode is here.

In the introduction to today's episode, we talk about a few things:

You can get a list of articles related to the Covid-19 pandemic here. This lists articles about driving safely as well as about the aid opportunities available to the independent contractor business owner.

We also talked briefly about the recent agreement for Uber Eats to take over Postmates. We had a couple of articles about this

• Thoughts on what a potential take over would mean to independent contractors.
• Reactions to the news from a driver's perspective

Okay, on to Sam's story and what it says about the ability to make six figures as a delivery driver.

Is this achievable? Is it sustainable?

We talk about his.

You can see the CNBC video about Sam's accomplishment here.

Quick note - if you read the blog post, there are slightly different numbers than what we break down in the podcast episode, when we get into what the effective hourly earnings are. When figuring numbers during the recording, I misfigured the tax differences between being an independent contractor and an employee. In the end though, the difference in figures is not very substantial.

We talk about what your car actually costs to operate. You can learn more about figuring out actual costs in Episode 18 of the podcast.

The bottom line is, Same worked a LOT in June and made a LOT of money. The important thing here isn't how much he made an hour or any of that - it was that he was able to CHOOSE to put those hours in. Whether we would choose to work that much is irrelevant. Sam did it.

And that's the beauty of being an independent contractor. We get to make those choices.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

This is more or less the 1 year anniversary of the launch of this podcast. We went live with regular episodes on July 1 2019.

Today's episode is a kind of celebration of all that. It was a blast having Mike Bisceglia from the Mike Delivers Podcast join us, share stories, and just talk about enjoying the time we spend out there in delivery.

Check out Mike's Podcast on Apple. Of course, Mike can be found on all the other places podcasts are found

Follow Mike on Twitter. You can also join his Patreon community and get bonus content.

I finally let Mike speak at the 7:36 mark

How Mike got started with delivery and podcasting: 8:48

On if he'd ever try any delivery platform other than Uber Eats 11:30

Mike on taking orders for the sake of the experience, not just the money 12:44

On building relationships with restaurant personnel 16:53

What Mike enjoys most about doing delivery work 19:48

What drives him crazy the most about delivery 22:51

One of his most memorable deliveries: 28:40

On delivering during the pandemic 32:17

Mike's best advice: Smile! 40:47

.... even with a mask 42:24

The associated page on the website can be found here with more or less a full trascript (minus my stuttering)

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop

A few weeks ago gas prices were ridiculously low. As people are getting back to work we're seeing gas prices start to move up in price. With gas getting more expensive and as much as we have to drive to deliver for gig economy apps, how do we make sure that we're not paying too much for gas?

Before diving into that topic, a couple things we touched on to start the episode:

• Last week the government added funds to the EIDL relief loans. Stay tuned to the EntreCourier website, we'll dive into that soon. Also, June 30 is the deadline for the Paycheck Protection Program. Here are some PPP relevant links:
  • How the PPP program works for independent contractors
  • My process applying for the PPP loans
  • How PPP loan forgiveness works for independent contractors
  • Where to apply for PPP Loans
• Doordash has been said to be dangling 'bonuses' for completing so many deliveries. They were promising "you'll earn at least $1750" for 300 deliveries. That's not a bonus, that's not money on top. It's just a minimum earnings of less than $6 each.
• Go check out Mike Delivers. Another delivery based podcast that's well done.

Okay, on to this week's episode

You can follow along on the blog post associated with today's episode and see links and screenshots there.

The most important tip for cutting down on gas costs? Drive less

I drive around in a 20-mpg Chevy Equinox and spend less on gas than a lot of people who drive a Prius. Why? Because I keep my miles down. Too many drivers are driving way too many miles. Don't be that guy (or gal).

Don't drive extra miles to save on taxes.

I learned on Uber Eats that distance was a better factor for evaluating deliveries than the offered price.

Use the available cost saving tools.

Use my GetUpside referral link to receive a bonus 15¢ per gallon cash back on your first fill up.

Check out GasBuddy for info on gas prices and save money on gas purchases with their debit card. (not an affiliate link.

Get the GoBank card from Uber Eats for up to 6.5% cash back on gas. Don't deliver for Uber Eats yet? Sign up here.

Use gas savings at warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club

Keep the big picture in mind

Think about what the cost is for whatever savings you pursue. Driving 6 miles out of your way costs you more in time and vehicle cost than what you save.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
Sign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation email
Get in touch with us
Follow us on Facebook
Folow us on Twitter
Connect with us on Linkedin
Follow us on Instagram

Need an inexpensive delivery bag to get started with delivery? You can purchase this one

For a professional looking polo or shirt for deliveries, check out the Independent Delivery Pro Gear Shop