A Journey Back into the Black

Several years have passed since some friends and I started this blog in 2013 with the goal of providing a road map for seekers of truth, goodness, and beauty. I could say life has dealt a fair deal of rough hands since then, but that would just be a lame excuse for my own lack of willpower. Some say life just happens, and that's why we often sideline our dreams. But life is not the culprit, at least in my case.

For me, it's just been the mundane worries of life. Due to various different pursuits, mostly business-related, I've found myself in more debt than I've ever been. So I've taken to the road to make up for the money I've lost. In addition to my duties with Catholic World Report, I've been making money with Doordash, Roadie, Lyft, Uber and GrubHub. In attempt to tie together my aspirations to write more and get out of debt, I decided to chronicle my journey back into the black. I write with trepidation because I've made so many commitments in the past and have failed to keep them. But I still believe every day is a new beginning, and it doesn't matter how many times we fall but how many times we get back up.

The car I use for this journey is my Dodge Journey. Funny thing: I bought this car a few months ago after wrecking my Ford Fusion (Perhaps a story for another time). The day I bought the Dodge, I also got a haircut because it seemed like a good day to start afresh. While the hairdresser was cutting my hair, "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey played at the barber shop. I know many people probably think that's just a coincidence and even a silly connection, but for me it was just enough to get me going again.

I keep track of my stats when doing rides and deliveries. I find that trying to beat my own records motivates me to work harder. Here are some basic stats based on the past few months at this odd job.

Month	Hours	Net pay	Net pay/hour	Trips	Minutes/trip
October 2023	92.5	$1,921.93	$20.77	168	34.5
November '23	11.5	$355.60	$30.9	26	25.3
December '23	19.5	$276.30	$14.16	39	30
January '24	44.45	$839.04	$18.87	72	37
February '24	46.1	$704.94	$15.29	84	32.9
March '24	109.7	$,1641.84	$14.96	196	33.6
April '24	125.3	$2,534.99	$20.23	219	34.3

I've been working with Uber on and off since 2016, with Doordash since 2020, Roadie since 2021, Grubhub since 2022, and Lyft since 2023. I've kept more detailed stats than what's listed above, but for the sake of brevity I am focusing on the main stats I keep in mind. I'm not breaking down how much I make per app above because that's not my game. All five apps are tools for the same job. Perhaps in the future I will break down stats per app, but I've found that they all even out to about the same $20/hour net pay over time. Avoiding scrupulosity is key in this journey, because it's easy to get caught up in a bad day when I don't make much. I don't want those days to discourage me from seeing the big picture.

This routine of much work with little pay is just life. It's better than paying other people to work for them, though, which is what I was doing for a few years trying to start a real estate business. I haven't given up on that, but I've reached a point where money has grabbed hold tight enough to dictate my decisions.

So, while I get out of debt, I can only hope to share my experiences here in hopes that my efforts and experiences translate into something worth reading. Not tending to our passions can take its own toll after a while, and living a life that focuses on making money can feel more impoverished than forfeiting profit in the interest of pursuing our dreams. It all depends on what we value most. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be" (Matthew 6:21). I've found that putting my heart into making money is a very superficial and ultimately unfulfilling life. We all seek to strike a balance between monetary ambitions and pursuing our dreams, I guess. Here is my effort to do that.

If you want to join me and make some money of your own, here are some referral links:

Drive with Lyft in New Jersey, and you get a bonus up to $150 if you give 130 rides in your first 30 days. Terms apply.

Earn with Uber. Earn at least $1,480 for your first 150 passenger trips in 30 days.

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Featured image generated by Midjourney