This post originally appeared on The Rideshare Guy Blog and Podcast but I thought it was perfect for this site since driving can be a great source of second income.  As you know, I’m a huge proponent of diversifying your income streams and figuring out lots of different ways to make money.  Ridesharing is really taking off right now and companies like Lyft, Uber and Sidecar are paying drivers a lot of money just for driving.  I hope you enjoy the article and please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Why Lyft is the Perfect Second Source of Income

I’m always looking for easy ways to make money, it’s kind of like a hobby for me.  Some people like to watch tv or play sports, but I’m always on the hunt for hobbies that align with viable business opportunities.  The first time I realized that I could make money off a hobby was during college when I started coaching volleyball.  Obviously it wasn’t the same as getting paid to play, but I did get paid to hang out with my friends(who were also coaches), hit balls at a bunch of kids (as hard as I could!) and exercise for a couple of hours a day.

Now that I’m older, my hobbies have changed but I still like making money.  So when I first heard that Lyft drivers were making $40-$50 an hour driving their car around my ears perked up.  It sounded too good to be true, especially considering that that was more than I made per hour at my day job.

After some initial research, I realized that not everyone was making that much, but it was very possible to make $40 an hour or more if you drove during peak times.  I was sold.  I was ready to give Lyft a try and it ended up being even easier than I thought to get started.

Low Start-Up Costs

The cool thing about Lyft is that there are literally zero start-up costs for drivers as long as you have a decent car and a smart phone.  That’s pretty much everyone I know.  With more traditional jobs, you need training, a degree or experience.  But as long as you know how to drive a car, you’re in with Lyft!

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial side but starting a business generally requires a lot of capital.  That’s one of the reasons why I like working in the online sphere so much and started my personal finance blog a few years ago.  If you’ve got a great idea for a website or a blog, you can get started for less than a couple hundred bucks and there’s room for lots of growth.  Lyft is the same way since you can get started with all the tools you already have and you have almost no expenses.

Lyfting is Fun

I treat Lyft as a second source of income so I’m never Lyfting more than 5-10 hours a week, I just don’t have the time.  If you’re Lyfting 40 hours a week or more, I could see how you might get tired of it.  But there are much worse jobs on this planet than driving around in a cool air-conditioned car for 8-9 hours a day.

For those of you who are like me and do Lyft in your free time, you probably already know how much fun it is.  When I get off work, I actually look forward to Lyfting and interacting with some normal people.  I work at an engineering company during the day so my daily conversations aren’t always the most stimulating.  A lot of people like to talk about work 

I use every pick-up as an opportunity to meet someone new and learn a little bit about them.  And if you drive late-night, it’s always fun to pick up drunk people and talk to them when they’re wasted as long as they don’t puke in your car.

You Own a Business

The best part about working for yourself is that you get to set your own hours, you get to work when you want and you get to go home when you want.  If you don’t feel like Lyfting for a week, then you don’t have to.  Obviously you won’t get paid during that week but there’s something to be said about that type of flexibility.

I like the fact that I can ramp up my hours on any given weekend and make a few hundred bucks if I need the money.  Lyft e-mails me all the time asking me to set my hours for next week but I never do.  Instead, I just turn on the app whenever I feel like driving and if someone calls me, great.  If not, no worries.

If you’re not driving for Lyft or another ridesharing company yet, why not?  The best time to think about starting a business is before you need it.  A lot of people get complacent working their day job and seeing that steady paycheck every 2 weeks.  But with the amount of people you hear about getting laid off and let go, it makes sense to have a back-up plan, or at least something that can bridge the gap.  For me, Lyft is that bridge..

Readers, what do you think about using Lyft as a second source of income?  Do you think it’s worth your time to build a second source of income or are you content making money from your day job?

– The Rideshare Guy

This article originally appeared here: http://therideshareguy.com/why-lyft-is-the-perfect-second-source-of-income