Deliver on Your Business

This might be instantly my favorite episode so far. For a couple of reasons. I'm honored to have UDM on with us this week.

The timing of this episode and the topic just collided with real life in an incredible way. It's all about balancing life and priorities with the work we do. Sometimes it's just really easy to get lost in our work. But life happens. It happened for me and played a part in putting this out at a slightly different time. I get into that more in what I called episode 38a.

Check out UDM's Youtube channel.

In the interview he mentioned taking a look at Dispatch. You can learn more about them here. If you want to sign up with them, I really suggest you check with UDM and ask if he has a referral code. I won't post his email just to keep him from getting spam but if you go to his about page on his channel, there's an option to email from there.

One topic that came up in today's conversation was about knowing and remembering your why. Episode 3 in our podcast talks about that more, or you can visit the companion post on our website.

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You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
We have a special section on the site for the podcast at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com

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Hey there, Courier Nation

You can tell pretty quickly this week that this is a bit different. None of the production, it's just some raw audio.

Which is okay because sometimes life is raw. In good and bad ways. This week has its share of both for me.

Bottom line: I called this Episode 38-a because the normal episode is delayed just a bit. I wanted to put something up so you didn't wonder what's happening. But you know me, I'm not so good at "Hey everyone, gonna be a slight delay."

Life happens. Whether good or bad...  that's what it's all about. Life. 

But in the end it's not about life getting in the way of work.

It should never be that. It's just... don't let work get in the way of life. Because life is what this is all about.

https://entrecourier.com/2019/09/20/does-life-get-in-the-way-of-your-work/

AB5 is almost certain to become law. The final vote in the California state senate is expected to pass before the week is over.

What will happen to the Gig Delivery industry and to contractors for Grubhub, Doordash, Postmates, Uber Eats and others in California? How will that affect our businesses? How will that impact us in other states? What will be the ripple affect?

We talk about this some in today's episode. Some of the topics we cover are: (with links to related articles at EntreCourier.com)

What IS AB5 and how does it apply to gig delivery work?
What are the drawbacks to AB5?
Why is AB5 Necessary despite the drawbacks?
What will this mean to California based contractors?
What is the ripple effect for those of us not in California?
What should we do as a result of its likely passage?

Every week we post a companion blog post that serves as a semi-transcript of the episode. There's so much to talk about with AB5, it was hard keeping the podcast at a reasonable length, but this week we decided to go into a bit more depth on the website. So instead of a single post, we published a series of articles. You can find the 'home page' for that article series here.

The plan was to continue the series on what it's like to deliver for each of the main delivery apps. However, Doordash STILL hasn't rolled out their new pay model. That's been such a big topic of discussion lately: Why are they changing? When are they changing? Why is it taking so long?

Today's episode will talk about the history of Doordash's pay model. We'll talk about why they moved to the current model, how the current model works, and what that means for however the new pay model will play out.

Some links to articles relevant to today's discussion:

No: Doordash is not stealing tips. Understanding the current pay model.

Doordash settled a lawsuit early in 2017 over misclassification of employees. Because they could no longer force drivers to accept deliveries, they had to create a model that better encouraged acceptance of low paying offers

Meet the New Doordash Pay Model. Same as the old model

The episode page on EntreCourier.com with a semi-transcript and screenshot of the email from Doordash announcing the pay change.

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We have been focusing on the four dominant food delivery apps. In Episode 33, we talked about Postmates, and this week we'll talk about Grubhub. As we look at each delivery platform, we'll ask the following questions:

• How is the pay?
• How is the app?
• What are deliveries like?
• Do they respect the Independent Contractor relationship?
• How is their support?

You can get a semi-transcript of the episode (it's not going to be word for word, but close enough) on the episode page on our website at EntreCourier.com.

Grubhub was for a long time the king of the hill for on demand food delivery. They had a seemingly insurmountable lead in market share. However, by March, Doordash passed them up and appears to be creating a bit of a lead over Grubhub. Grubhub was long the delivery app of choice, but that seems to be changing with recent changes. They recently implemented a new pay model and that seems to have been a turning point for a lot of previously loyal couriers.

We have an article on our site that talks a bit more about the pay model change..

My experience with any of these apps is obviously going to be different than anyone else's. Some markets are busier. Some take a different approach to accepting orders, and all of that will inform your own opinions. I try to provide some information of things that work and don't work, to try to give you something to start with. Postmates can be great, especially if your customer service is great and if you don't get sucked into long waits after placing an order. They can be terrible. That's probalby true with all of them.

What do you think? What are the pros and cons in your experience? Go to our contact page and shoot me an email or leave a voice message letting me know your thoughts.

For the first time in this podcast, you get to listen to someone else along side me.

We're excited to have Gig Coach Jake join us as a guest on the Deliver on Your Business podcast.

You can follow Gig Coach Jake on Youtube.
You can learn more about him on his About Us Page.
Also learn more at his website, GigCoachJake.com

Jake has recently launched a Patreon group. Learn more here.

We're excited to see his new podcast get launched. It will be entitled Be Your Own Boss: Gig Economy Strategies for Success. He'll be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, all the major podcast sites. He plans to launch his first episode this upcoming Thursday, August 29. Stay tuned on our website and we'll post links once the site is live.

Jake talks with us about being your own boss. As he says, Anyone can be their own boss. It's all about a mindset, all about making smart decisions.

We will start looking at the four dominant food delivery apps, starting this week with Postmates. With each app we'll ask the following questions:

• How is the pay?
• How is the app?
• What are deliveries like?
• Do they respect the Independent Contractor relationship?
• How is their support?

You can get a semi-transcript of the episode (it's not going to be word for word, but close enough) on the episode page on our website at EntreCourier.com.

Postmates couriers seem to have a love hate relationship. Some swear by them. Others despise them. New drivers often have a feeling they aren't paid much due to the fact that the tip does not show up immediately.

We have an article on our site that talks a bit more about how the pay model works.

My experience with any of these apps is obviously going to be different than anyone else's. Some markets are busier. Some take a different approach to accepting orders, and all of that will inform your own opinions. I try to provide some information of things that work and don't work, to try to give you something to start with. Postmates can be great, especially if your customer service is great and if you don't get sucked into long waits after placing an order. They can be terrible. That's probalby true with all of them.

What do you think? What are the pros and cons in your experience? Go to our contact page and shoot me an email or leave a voice message letting me know your thoughts.

We're baaaaaack. Kicking off our weekly episodes, we ask the question of it if makes sense to use a bicycle for delivery.

For a semi transcript, see our blog post on "Can I Make Money Delivering on My Bike?"

Much of this episode was inspired by trying out the new Bicycle Mode feature on Doordash. I write more about my thoughts on using Doordash for bicycle delivery here.

There are a lot of factors you want to consider when thinking about using a bicycle for delivery with Grubhub, Doordash, Postmates, Uber Eats and others. One obvious question would be, does the company even offer bicycle delivery options for your market? Grubhub for example does NOT offer bicycle as an option in Denver as of this episode.

Where can bicycle delivery be more efficient? Are there cost savings? What are some of the actual costs? What are the opportunity costs? What about eBikes?

Episode 18 talks about the actual expenses of your car. You will want to consider that when comparing options.

Learn more about the EntreCourier by visiting our website. 

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It's been 31 days now. Today is our wrap up of the 31 Day Courier MBA Series.

We had intended to talk about professional development for your employee (who happens to be you), however some of the earlier articles covered that pretty well. Ultimately, my hope is that the series as a whole has helped you develop. I express some wishes for you as we conclude this series:

My wish is that you can walk away from the serious understanding who you are. You are a professional. You are a business owner. Take pride in that.

My wish is that you feel a little better equipped to make good business decisions

My wish is that you can see your worth and be willing to demand nothing less

My wish is that this delivery work in the gig economy can be a springboard into something greater.

I encourage you to check out a couple of previous episodes:

Episode 3: We talk about digging into your why. Understand why you are doing this and dig into it, search your soul and think about the things that have the greatest meaning to you.

Episode 7: We talk about developing an exit strategy. Start with your passions, with the things you're good at, and start dreaming and planning for doing great things after this.

There is a huge difference between what you receive from delivery companies and what your actual earnings are. You get a better picture of how you are doing compared to say an employment option once you start treating your income as a paycheck complete with withholdings and deductions.

In today's episode we talk about the importance of not touching your revenue until you have handled taxes, expenses and benefits. We talk about setting money aside for:

• Tax savings
• Expense savings
• Paid Time Off
• Insurance and Retirement

Once you've taken that money out, what you have left is the equivalent to your take home as an employee.

This can be a huge wake up call. It can tell you that you're not making what you expected. It can also tell you you're not making what you need. But even then, don't skimp on the process, don't avoid setting aside the money you need to set aside because if you think you're struggling with what's left over, that's nothing compared to the struggle when your tax bill comes due and you don't have money for it.

Some of the other episodes that have some impact on this topic:

Episode 17: Understanding Profit and Loss
Episode 18: Calculating your true car expenses
Episode 20: Saving for major expenses
Episode 21: Understand your taxes
Episode 22: Know when to say when
Episode 28: Give yourself benefits
Episode 30: Give yourself a pay check (today). 

For a complete overview of episodes, you can go here.