The Origin
In January of 2017, I left a 6-figure job to do something that would make me happy. I wanted the opportunity to satisfy my customer, to live with a significantly reduced amount of stress, and to work at something that was more rewarding and gratifying . The money had lost it's significance in my work life, so the possibilities before me were endless.
I had toyed with the idea of driving for Uber and even joked about it with friends, but when it came time, I was convinced that this was the new path forward for me. It was simple. I like to drive my car, I like to drive people around in the luxury it provides, and I liked the opportunity to satisfy my customer. The last one is more significant than you might think.
What came next was completely unexpected. In the early days of driving Uber, I was overwhelmed with what an incredible service this provided to the community. People from all walks of life are in need of a low-cost, personable, approach to transportation. In a city like Phoenix, where 3.25M people occupy 517 square miles, and public transportation is a joke, there couldn't be a service more important to the life blood of its citizens.
From a business perspective, it also hit me how disruptive Uber has been to the taxi and limousine services, who have been lazy and complacent for decades. Now, I realized that I'm late to this party; Uber has been around for a few years, but I hope you can appreciate my perspective from fresh eyes.
People told me I'd meet interesting new people, but I wasn't prepared for this... About 1 in 5 riders are more than interesting...they are special in various ways. These are their stories. Some of the names have been changed to protect their anonymity. You won't always know which is which, so you might as well assume that all of the names have been changed.
To get started, the chronology will be rough, out-of-sync, and mostly irrelevant. After I've caught up, the stories will be more current.
My final thought before setting off is this... My intent is to show our humanity in different lights: funny, sad, heart-warming, and heart-breaking. And serve to remind us, in this digital age of superficiality, that the substance of people is still out there, deserving to be valued, respected, and cherished.
I had toyed with the idea of driving for Uber and even joked about it with friends, but when it came time, I was convinced that this was the new path forward for me. It was simple. I like to drive my car, I like to drive people around in the luxury it provides, and I liked the opportunity to satisfy my customer. The last one is more significant than you might think.
What came next was completely unexpected. In the early days of driving Uber, I was overwhelmed with what an incredible service this provided to the community. People from all walks of life are in need of a low-cost, personable, approach to transportation. In a city like Phoenix, where 3.25M people occupy 517 square miles, and public transportation is a joke, there couldn't be a service more important to the life blood of its citizens.
From a business perspective, it also hit me how disruptive Uber has been to the taxi and limousine services, who have been lazy and complacent for decades. Now, I realized that I'm late to this party; Uber has been around for a few years, but I hope you can appreciate my perspective from fresh eyes.
People told me I'd meet interesting new people, but I wasn't prepared for this... About 1 in 5 riders are more than interesting...they are special in various ways. These are their stories. Some of the names have been changed to protect their anonymity. You won't always know which is which, so you might as well assume that all of the names have been changed.
To get started, the chronology will be rough, out-of-sync, and mostly irrelevant. After I've caught up, the stories will be more current.
My final thought before setting off is this... My intent is to show our humanity in different lights: funny, sad, heart-warming, and heart-breaking. And serve to remind us, in this digital age of superficiality, that the substance of people is still out there, deserving to be valued, respected, and cherished.
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