Uber has become one of the best transportation support system when you don’t want to drive your own car.

Whenever I travel alone in such taxi app cab then I try to get into a conversation with the driver. Normally I start of the discussion with what is the current incentive system they have in Uber / Ola ? Is the cab owned by the driver and if yes how much does he earn a month ? Depending upon the responsiveness of the driver I tend to divert the topic to understand Consumer Buying Behaviour. Since I work with an automobile company I always try to understand the basic points considered by him before buying this car. So my set of primary research questions include : Why he bought this particular brand of car ? What is the USP? Was he offered any special discount by the automobile dealer? Whether service support was kept in mind while finalising this brand ? etc.

So as usual, I took an Uber today afternoon, and got into a conversation with the driver. I started off with my regular set of questions and the driver was very happy to answer all my questions in length. The moment I finished my set of questioning then he told me that ‘those who say that Uber drivers are not earning don’t know the earning opportunity’.

The driver with whom I was having the conversation turned out to be a Software engineer (small time as per him) with a reputed software firm. He was driving the cab as his driver had taken leave. He said that Uber / Ola (as drivers keep switching from one app to another ) is one of the best way of earning money.

Tips to earn maximum from Uber :-

– Don’t buy SUV and put in Uber / Ola. The smaller the car the higher is your chance of getting trips. Also the mileage of SUV will be much lower than a hatchback.

– Ask your Uber driver to Start the trip by 3 am . This is the best time to get trips towards airport. Continue the shift till 11 am. This will help in getting the morning office going trips as well.

– Ask the driver to take rest till 4 pm

– Start the second shift from 4 pm to 8 pm. This again will cater to the evening commuters.

– 8 pm end of duty.. Both the driver and the cab owner are happy.

– Driver earns around 1000 INR and the Owner earns approx 2000 INR per day

– The other tips given by this Software engineer to his driver “Don’t wait near a taxi stand or a kaali road but instead wait near a posh locality -the chances of getting trip will be on a higher side”

Further discussions help me to understand that he earns around 40k from his Software job and another 50-60k from Uber. I told him that this will help him grow faster in his life.

I was taken aback when he revealed the next two points particularly the second one.

1. He owns a SUV and he has deployed that on monthly basis with the same company with which he is working. Smart…!!! So that is additional income.

2. He told me “Sirji to grow fast in life and to earn a lot you need to be smart and think out of the box”. By this time I was awestruck calculating his earnings per month. The next thing he did to earn that extra money was interesting. He bought clothes meant for female customers from all the major e-commerce websites at a low rate / whenever Sale is happening. He has employed few tailors . The job of the tailors is to add some glamour factor in to these dresses bought online. The dresses are then sold to shops at main markets of Mumbai like Lokhandwala, Powai and some boutiques in the suburbs. The dresses were bought at around 400-500 INR and after doing the ‘touch up’ work was sold to the boutique shops for 2000 INR.

My trip got completed and I told the driver that it was a pleasure speaking to him. I was telling myself “here i crib of the salary I earn & only way i could think of earning more was with a job shift and then this guy gives me numerous tips to make money of you are ready to stretch yourself and think loud” .

It was indeed an interesting afternoon drive.

I will finish this article with a tip from this software-driver-fashion designer :

“Sir.. if in case you ever think of getting in to this cloth / dress business then make sure you cater only to female customers as they will be the ones who will keep buying clothes every month” haha… That’s true…!!!