Hey guys.
This is Steli Efti with Close.io.
Today I want to talk to you about Uber.
What the hell do I have to say about Uber that’s going to be interesting?
Not that much.
But I have to say something about two Uber drivers that I recently met and I want to
share those stories with you because I think their stories will have an impact on how you
succeed with your start-up, how you succeed in hustling and selling.
All right.
Let me backtrack.
I use Uber a lot.
I love it and typically when I’m in a ride, initially I just like to be quiet and be by
myself, listening to a podcast or do something else that’s interesting or cool or do some
work on my laptop.
But I always try to fight that because I know that people can be the doorway to new worlds.
So I tried to take an interest and just ask them some questions.
Sometimes there’s a connection.
Sometimes there isn’t.
But recently, in the last 10 days, I had two drivers where when I asked them why they were
driving and how long they’ve been doing this, they told me some amazing stories.
So the first guy, when I asked him how long he has been driving, he told me, “You know,
I’ve only been driving for a few weeks.”
I asked him how much he likes it and why he does it.
What he told me was pretty inspiring story.
He’s actually doing cancer research at Stanford Medical School or university.
I’m not exactly sure.
For the past 20 years and he’s driving Uber one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening
every single day and then on weekends he does it two hours in the morning, to raise money
for cancer research.
He was telling me about like all his patients and the pain they feel and some of them really
struggle financially because they’re not able to work during all the treatment that
they’re getting and how it’s breaking his heart every day and how he’s trying
to make a small difference and I will ask him about his little picture, on the Uber
app.
If you have it, when you call, when you see the driver, there’s a little picture of
the driver and in his picture was him and his little boy.
Now I have two little boys.
So I asked him about that.
He was telling me that his little boy loves him a lot and always wants to be around him.
So his boy really hated the idea that his dad is taking an hour from the morning time
they had together and an hour from the evening time that they could have together.
So the way that he hacked it was that he took a picture with his boy and he told him how
important this was to him and how much of a difference they’re making and showed him
the picture of the two of them and said, “Whenever I’m driving, this is going to be the picture
so you’re always with me.”
I thought that was a pretty inspiring and amazing story and just yesterday, I had another
one that I thought I wanted to share with you.
Here’s an Uber driver that for the first few minutes, we had like zero interactions
with and honestly, I was really just into listening to something and I just – I was
tired.
I really wanted just to be by myself.
But then I glanced over and I saw that in his cockpit, there was a picture, an older
picture of – I couldn’t really figure it out, either a father and his son or two
brothers.
It was two people.
I thought it was interesting that he taped it there, at the cockpit.
So I asked him.
I was like, “Oh, what’s the story behind the picture?”
He said, “Oh, that’s me and my little brother.”
I was like, “Oh, that’s cool.
Why do you have that picture there?”
He’s like, “Yeah, I’m paying for my little brother’s school and I do it while
driving Uber.”
I was like, “Oh, that’s really cool.
Good for you.
You’re an awesome older brother.
Props!”
Then he said, “Yeah, thank you.”
We kept driving and at some point I thought, “Well, why is he doing it?”
and I asked him, “Well, why do you have the picture there?
It’s cool that you’re paying for him.
But why do you need the picture there?”
He’s like, “Yeah, a lot of times I’m not really motivated to do the extra work.
I work at a factory.
I do really heavy machinery.
It’s very tough and taxing work.
So a lot of times after my work, I don’t really feel like jumping into my car and driving
for Uber.
But that picture in my car reminds me who I am doing this for.
So it’s kind of my way of motivating myself and keep reminding myself of why I’m doing
this.
I’m not just driving Uber to make a few bucks.
I’m driving this car to pay for school for my little brother and give him opportunities
and chances in life.”
I was super touched by that and I was curious to hear why he in specific had to pay for
his brother.
So I asked him.
He went, “You know what?
My father just recently died and my mother has cancer and she’s not able to work anymore.
So there’s really not anyone else that could pay for my little brother.
My brother is really smart.
I know when I went to school, I made a lot of mistakes in my life.
So I’m the only one that’s able to enable and empower my little brother to have a different
life.”
I thought that was pretty powerful shit and not just for him.
Not just good for him for doing something with purpose and empowering his brother to
have more opportunities in life than him but also I was just thinking about his brother.
I mean we were chatting and smiling and laughing about some stories of his brother.
He seems not just to be smart but also super ambitious at school and no wonder because
when his brother goes to school, he goes into there with a different kind of purpose as
well and context.
He’s not just like, “Yeah, sure, I’m at the school.
But I really wanted to be at this other school.”
His brother shows up at school and he knows, hey, my older brother is hustling every day
after work, working for hours and hours and hours to pay for this, to enable me to come
here and learn and make something out of myself.
So what kind of a drive and motivation and inspiration is that for the little brother
and not just for the bigger one?
I thought that was a super special story and I actually made – he allowed me to take
some pictures and I’m going to publish these pictures in this post.
We’re going to edit them into the video so you have kind of a visual of him and the
picture of him and his brother.
But why am I sharing the story?
Other than it’s just cool, inspirational, nice stories of people that are doing something
that’s bigger than themselves, is that it reminded me how important it is to connect
your work to a purpose, preferably to something that’s bigger than just yourself.
Don’t just come to work and hustle for your startup to be successful or don’t just come
to work and hustle so that you can hit certain revenue numbers.
Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?
What’s the larger purpose?
Why do I care about the work I do?
What’s the difference I will make in the world and preferably, what’s the difference
that’s bigger than just myself, my selfish needs?
How can I make somebody or something truly better in the world through the work that
I’m doing?”
If you don’t have something in your mind right now, just take a moment and go on a
walk or sit down somewhere quiet and think about this.
How could I connect the work that I’m doing, the sales call that I’m doing, this email
I’m writing right now to a higher purpose?
How can I remind myself of that higher purpose every single day so the quality of work that
I do is on a completely different level and the quality of my life while I’m doing that
work is a completely different level?
I want to hear from you.
So make sure to comment here.
Tweet at me, @steli.
Send me an email at steli@close.io.
Let’s share each other’s stories.
Let’s inspire each other to do better work by doing more purpose-driven work.
All right.
I hope that this was useful.
I’m looking forward to hear your stories.
Make sure to subscribe to our blog, blog.close.io, and subscribe to this channel if you found
this story interesting and relevant.
You will get a lot more of these.
Thanks.