It was the
summer of 2014 and I had been hired to manage the social media for 4 busy
political campaigns (on top of my private client workload.)
A typical day
would goes as follows; wake up at 5 AM and head to Crenshaw Blvd for an Alex
Johnson for LA School Board Event. From there I would race to Santa
Monica for a staff meeting at Bobby Shriver's HQ (he was running for LA
Supervisor). Without breaking for lunch, I would then head to Inglewood
for an event for Autumn Burke (running for Assembly) and then back to Santa
Monica for a Meet and Greet for Santa Monica Mayor Pam O'Conner. The
evening would invariably end with a fundraising event for one of the
candidates, getting me home at 11 PM- exhausted and cell phone battery drained.
I turned to
taking LYFTs to enable me to keep this schedule with a minimum of stress and
maximum of work between the appointments. Looking back, I don't think I
could have done it without ride sharing.
First, let's
address stress. Driving in LA is always a chore (with traffic, bad
drivers, etc). My phone would be continually going off and and the stress
caused by being offline during drive time was real. I was extremely
distracted and, frankly was not a good driver. Not good. Having
someone else drive me lessened the stress considerably and ensured I arrived
safely wherever I needed to go. As a father of a 12 year old, that was
important!
The cost
savings were an astounding surprise! When factoring in how much it costs
to drive in LA (and how much you could save using a ride share) don't just add
up your car payments and gas. You need to factor in the following
realities; parking costs, parking tickets (!), repairs, insurance and your time
spent looking for a parking space. Taken together, depending on your car
and insurance costs, one can easily spend over $1,000 a month. At the
time, ride share costs averaged me about $40 a day. If I calculated that
I used them 20 times a week (sometimes less when I could hitch a ride with a
coworker or friend), I was looking at spending around $800 a month.
While that
number may feel expensive, it was still less than what I would pay for driving
my own car. Starting a small business meant that cash flow was one of the
most important "drivers" of my success and any savings was crucial to
growing my consulting work.
Lastly, the
best benefit for me was that I could WORK and recharge my cell phone between
appointments. This increase in productivity allowed me to double my work
output and service all my clients in a timely and professional manner. I
would simply call the LYFT, wait on a corner, hop in the car and get to
work. If there was bad traffic and the ride took 30 minutes to go 3 miles
I didn't care, because I was able to work the whole way- posting on my clients
social media accounts, making phone calls, researching relevant hashtags and,
very importantly, preparing my monthly invoices and reports.
I made it
through that busy campaign season and most, but not all, my clients were
successful in their campaigns.
I don't
particularly like driving. I was was never one of those guys in high school
that seemed to attach their identity to a car. I enjoy meeting the different
drivers and learning about their lives in LA. I have heard some incredible
stories, made some friends and feel more connected to many varied communities I
would otherwise never had met.
Ride sharing
is not for everyone, but run the numbers and see if it would work for
you. You will be surprised the freedom you obtain when you ditch your
automobile.
Visit us at the Mar Vista Eco Car Expo on April 10th at the Mar Vista Farmers Market at Pacific and Grand View.
