The GIG Economy Podcast
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The GIG Economy Podcast
Ep. # 157 The B-side: Pedro's Exploration of Ride-Sharing, Food Delivery and YouTube Content Creation
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Imagine being tugged from a stable full-time job into the unpredictable world of gig work. That's the journey of our guest, Pedro, a top gig creator on YouTube who left his role at a casino to venture into ride-sharing and food delivery. As the pandemic unfolded, Pedro was thrown into gig work full-time, and he now relishes the flexibility and benefits it brings.
Experience the captivating universe of multi-app delivery and content creation with Pedro as your guide. Pedro has meticulously crafted a strategy for juggling multiple apps, maximizing his earnings, and delivering compelling YouTube content.
Looking ahead, Pedro shares his thoughts on Gigcon, an event he founded to unite gig economy members for networking and connection. Gigcon has successfully hosted three events so far, each one bigger and better than the last. So if you're keen on the gig economy, ride-sharing, food delivery, or content creation, this episode is your ticket to insights and inspiration. Join us on this ride!
Pedro DoorDash Santiago
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Hey guys, welcome to the gig economy podcast, the B side.
Speaker 2:The B side, thank you guys, somebody was a little too low and too loud there.
Speaker 1:Was it too low, too loud, not too loud.
Speaker 2:The intro was too loud. Oh, I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1:Anyways, this is the B side. Every other Wednesday at 8 pm, we interview a gig creator or a gig worker, and today we have well, it's usually the creators are usually both. They're both workers and creators and we have Pedro, one of the top gig creators on YouTube. We cannot think, or we cannot think him enough for coming on. We got like 40 people in here, so it's like that's like insane.
Speaker 2:for us, this may be a record.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm happy to be here, guys. Thank you for having me, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:So what we do on the B side is, like I said, we interview people and I just want to you know. I know your fam probably has already known a little bit about you, but for our family we'd like to know how you got started in gig work, what market you're in, what's your primary gig for part time Just kind of your, your beginning story in the gig world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. So I started the gig economy about three years ago. I started at full time. I did ride share to begin. Yeah, I was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was working at a casino, full time salary job, very busy, working 50 hours a week or whatever, and I used to be a ride share passenger. So I used it often and I had a trip I wanted to pay for and didn't want to dip into any savings or anything. I said, you know what? I think I could do some ride share to help pay for that trip. So I would basically work my regular gig or my regular job, w2 and then a couple days out of the week I would turn ride share on at night when I get off work a couple hours, and then I would take one of my days off and work a few hours and I mean I loved it.
Speaker 3:I like being people. The money was good. I was like you know what, I'll trade a little bit of my time to pay for something in what I thought at that point was kind of a smart way. Right, pandemic happens. I got furloughed at the casino. I started doing it for a couple of months. I was furloughed, I started doing it full time and then went back to work still did a little bit. Left that in 2021, january 2021. So for two and a half years or so I've been full time slash part time in the gig economy. I do Uber ride share a little bit, uber eats, mostly DoorDash and Instacart or the apps I run right now. How?
Speaker 1:was it going back? You were doing it for full time and then you went back to your job after they called you back. How was that? We're like, ooh, this kind of sucks.
Speaker 3:I mean I was happy to go back to work. I really was. But then you know I'd be lying if it wasn't like, yeah, you know I kind of like making the money in a gig economy because I was able to do it when I wanted. Yes, the position at the casino I made, I kind of made my schedule because I was one of the bosses. But you really don't, because when you're working in a restaurant business, I manage the F&B department.
Speaker 3:You got to be there on weekends. You're there at night. You know there, you have to be there a lot right.
Speaker 3:So I didn't love that part and that's kind of why I left and said you know what? I think I could do this full time and work on some other things on my time and utilize the gig economy in that way, and I haven't looked back since. I have no regrets. I love working in gig economy, some days more than others, but I really really enjoy it because it allows me to turn on and off an app most of the time when I want. Obviously, you got to work when it's busy, but you know you can still. I don't miss any family functions, I don't have to ask somebody for a day off, and that's really really, really nice.
Speaker 2:So so you mentioned that you kind of do them all. What's your favorite one?
Speaker 3:I love okay, so I love rideshare.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I do, I like it. I like picking people up. I really really enjoy that. Now I don't do it as much as I used to because the food delivery is easier. It just is less liability, less risk, more safe. But I do enjoy the daytime rideshare in St Louis. I mean it's. I really really like it. But also with that you're gonna drive more mileage and everything. So monetarily I do better with food delivery most of the time. As far as like a profit profitability standpoint, yeah, I love, I like the rideshare. I really really do. Yeah, and if I had like a, like a SUV you're like a big suburban I would probably do that more often because money can be really good if you have a vehicle like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah but I do mostly food delivery and shopping right now.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm always the one out, because to me the food the rideshare, which I started in 16 and did rideshare for years. That's all that was. It causes me anxiety now, like I'm glad I downgraded from an XL to a regular car because like I get party people in there, and they're just I don't know. I just yes, for loves it he loves the drugs. He loves everything about it.
Speaker 2:You have a comfort now, man, you're all good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, comfort whatever that barely pays anything more than the acts like this much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but no, I would only do, I'll only do rideshare. I, you know, know me getting out of my car to kind of deliver people their food. I'm not doing that, I hear you.
Speaker 3:Let me ask you a question, jesper. So do you feel like the rideshare is more like a professional line of work? Is that why you don't like the food delivery, like I've heard some people write?
Speaker 2:No, no, not at all. No, I have just as much respect for the people who deliver my burger or whatever. Absolutely. To me, it's just what I call rideshare, my therapy, and it's just hard to have a therapy session with a burger in a bag in a bag.
Speaker 3:You know that's a good point yeah.
Speaker 2:So to me I mean I would drive. I'll drive the week, I'm the weekend warrior, I drive at night, I make sure people get home safe from the bars and that kind of stuff and I have the conversations. That's just me, but that's because a very big part of it is is the camaraderie, the fun, the games, all that stuff you know, yeah, so that that's just me yeah but anyways.
Speaker 2:So so talk a little bit about, talk a little bit about your show Pedro San Diego. What do you do, what you know, what's special about your show, and so forth.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you. So we've had. I've had YouTube for two and a half years, maybe a little bit more, and I started it just doing ride longs. You know, I've done a lot of rideshare, like you, and I got so many stories and I would come home and tell my girlfriend or my family oh my god, I pick up this couple and these guys were fighting and these people were great and all these stories that you get with rideshare, right, and I said, you know what? Maybe I see all the people had channels that I could.
Speaker 3:I could kind of share my experience. It could be entertaining or whatever, and maybe I can teach some people some things, because I learned from others on YouTube which I think YouTube is a great way to learn anything for free, not just gig economy, but actually more than that. And I said Let me just turn the camera on and see what we can do. And I kind of told myself what up, gary? I kind of told myself let's do this for a year and I committed. It was a really bold thing. I don't recommend it for anybody. I said I'm gonna try for a year and I'm gonna make, I'm gonna do something every single day on YouTube.
Speaker 2:Oh nice.
Speaker 3:And I did that and the channel kind of started growing and I was helping some people and it became very. I was having fun doing it, even before I was making money doing it. It was just fun the community, the community, the comments and just Collaborating with other people. And right now I do a live show every Sunday. That's been pretty strong for Almost two years now, every Sunday, 10 Eastern, 9 central, and we open up the stream yard.
Speaker 3:In the beginning I was taking phone calls like the old AM shows. You know People would I give up my personal number like an idiot and I'd be like and people would call in and it's just. You know the energy I get from the fellow drivers. Yep, it was just great. So it just kept me engaged, doing it every week, every week, and Basically on my channel you could find it's kind of a mix. So I give a realistic Interpretation of my day every day, whether it's good, bad or ugly, whether I'm 200 bucks, 300 bucks or maybe 20 bucks, I tell you. You know I do rants, I'm very opinionated. I don't hold back, I just I am myself. I give a little bit of an entertainment. I talk about topics, the things that are affecting drivers, mostly door-dash, but I still talk about other things and we have a good time doing it. So that's kind of what the channels about.
Speaker 1:So when you're so it's two questions. When you are doing gig work, are you having to multi-app in your area?
Speaker 2:Is that?
Speaker 1:is that something that you you do, or are you able to do door-dash? You said you do mostly door-dash, so I mean then I have to ask the question Are you a top dasher or yes, kind of thing.
Speaker 3:So I'll get into that. So when I first started it was obviously just a lot of uber and then Door-dash and then mostly just do it as for a while Back before the programs and things like that and I was able to just do door-dash and it was really easy to make a decent living, most of it most weeks. Right now. There are weeks that I'll just do all door-dash and do, okay, right now, the last Not last week, but the week before and this week I've been doing pretty much equal parts insta-cart and door-dash and it's been really good. I'm making a little more money by having that second app on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I highly recommend drivers, when you feel comfortable in your market, to multi-app. You know, having all the apps on taking the best offer. There are times you'll get lucky and you know You're dropping off a door-dash and you got insta-cart on and you can grab one and have it waiting in the queue, as I call it, so that you have no downtime. So I think limiting the downtime is what is a major thing about multi-app thing. If you do it the right way. Don't recommend it for new drivers, yeah, but for somebody that's, even if you just a month into it, month in month or two and you can figure it out. I am a top-dash here. I used to not be ever and I was. I would adamantly call top-dashers like you guys are crazy about, you know 2021 2022.
Speaker 3:I was like this is ridiculous. But the game has changed. Door-dash has changed. If you don't think they've changed, you're probably not working apps right. So I reset my acceptance rate back in November of 2022 and Chronicle lives that on YouTube and the good and the bad and positive with it. Right now I am one, but I'll either get it with the acceptance rate or I can get the. If you do enough shopping pays in st Louis, yeah, same year you can get. You can kind of be gifted the dash now functionality every week. So I basically get it just from that, but I also get it with a higher AR. So do it as has changed. I don't think top-dash here has a negative condensation as it did a year or two ago, but, like I told you know you got to do it works for you. Every market's kind of different right.
Speaker 1:So well, I think the problem with the top, not a problem with top-dash here. What the way they've changed? It's someone like me. I can't ever get on now because I don't do it enough To do a hundred deliveries and stuff like that. Like I try to get on when when I can, but then you know I have other.
Speaker 1:I have some a couple other W2 jobs that are like part-time and stuff, so like so it really screws the, the guy that just wants to throw on the app and go work five hours and then be done with it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I mean what I think, once you get that top-dash here, if you Dedicate like two or three nights a week, I think you can keep it. But, like, for me, it's just. I I mean I've probably done in the month of July, I probably did 12 Deliveries, yeah, and it's a kind of bummer because I actually like food delivery and uber Eats is just kind of trash here and, of course, and so yeah it's kind of frustrating, yeah, but the second question I had you do a live on Sunday and then how many times do you edit and post stuff, and does that interfere sometimes with you wanting just to go out and do?
Speaker 1:Now, don't be offended everybody, because I'm a gig worker too, but brainless delivery or stuff where it's just it's kind of like. I know this. I don't have to think super hard. You know what I mean. I'm just curious how many videos you post. And because I know we don't do any video editing, I do audio editing, but like video.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's it. That's a great. I get that question a lot and this is why I have made in the last since I started the channel, I do daily uploads, right, so my editing is very, very minimal. I use iMovie. No, I record everything with my iPhone 13. When I started the channel was the iPhone 10. I could. At this point I can get my editing done really easily. Okay, doesn't take me long, and I do the Sunday lives and those just kind of sit there and sometimes I'll take segments from the live and Reupload smaller segments. I've only done that maybe a half dozen times, but I do daily content and I've missed a few days Maybe a half dozen days in the last two plus years to where it was either a holiday or I didn't feel like doing it or whatever. But I do daily stuff and I do it on my phone and still you still do daily stuff like still yeah, man.
Speaker 1:Incredible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I do, I'm so jealous of your.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of it.
Speaker 3:Listen, I don't recommend. I. I've tried to help and I talked to a lot of people like up-and-coming content creators or I think about having a channel. I do not and I'll repeat it for everybody on your show Recommend doing daily content. It can burn you out, it will burn you out. It's a lot, it's. It becomes a job. Oh, yeah, but because I'm monetized and, like you know, you start seeing the fruits of the labor.
Speaker 3:Yeah and you start growing something and you feel good about it. So I feel really lucky. But I do daily.
Speaker 2:I mean I've got a lot of content, yeah but a lot of it you you record in the car right. Most of it you record, yes absolutely.
Speaker 2:I would say 95% of my uploads are in the car, yeah so you have to routine down you know when you're going to, because I mean I watch I saw a couple of them today. You know I'd like to do my, you know, a little bit of research, but but I mean they were just and they were great videos, that that the thing and and you can see that you have it down, you know. You know where the good the phone is. You you've obviously done this a lot, yeah, and you edit it in smooth, I mean yeah. So so I think it looks really really good Knowing what you have to work with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, thank you for saying that, because I've made a lot of really crappy videos in the beginning, you know. So I always say, like you have to do the quantity to know what quality looks like you Right. So, and even now I'll make a video. I'm like I'm not proud of it, but my audience knows that to expect a video every day at 9, 30 Eastern, that's just what it is. So they know that they're going to get something and it could be good, it could be bad day, it could be a topic, it could be a ride along, it could be a response or reaction, and it's something for them to look forward to. And mine's very raw. The editing is it's just, you know, it's just me and my car most of the time.
Speaker 2:So and that's the style they're looking for, right and, once it's, if it starts becoming something else. Now it's no longer your audience.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:You got to be careful about that too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and I've tried some things here and there and sometimes people like them and they don't. But that's YouTube, you know it's, it's, it's. Uh, you're not going to be able to please everybody, but as long as you can just kind of be yourself, I think overall, if you go with that, you'll be fine.
Speaker 2:So you know, you brought it up yourself that you know the editing you do and how long it takes you on something. So, but in an average week for you, pedro, uh, sorry Pedro, um, would you say how many? How many hours would you say that you work both on gig and on the channel?
Speaker 3:Oh, great question. So I've been transitioning, trying to transition over the last year to do less gig work and make money doing. I make money doing a few things. Sure, I'll be like you guys, right, I don't have a W2, but I do a few things on the side, right. So I, for a while it was. I was in the beginning, I was like 50 to 60 hours a week. It's five to seven days a week, right. And then about a year ago, I started getting it down to 30, six months ago, 25.
Speaker 3:I like to, I like to be at about 20 hours a week, but I'm just not there yet for other reasons. Yeah, um, but as far as YouTube, yeah, because I'm doing it every day. Um, there are days where I'll spend two to four hours doing things on YouTube, and then there are other days that might only be an hour. So not a lot because I keep my editing very simple, um, but there are days I'm very invested in YouTube and the comment section and looking at things and researching and stuff like that. So I I'm definitely I'm working less now, by doing four different things that I do, than I did when I worked as a food and beverage director at the casino. So I'm very happy to say I worked less and make a little more. So it took a while to figure that out, but uh, right now I mean the less, like this week I'll probably work about 40 hours doing do it? Actually it's the car for this week, so not too bad.
Speaker 1:But so I have a question Uh, you're obviously monetized and probably have a steady stream of revenue. Uh, does your family uh, maybe not your immediate family, but other people are like you make money on YouTube. Like, does they like go like just doing your silly videos or something like that? Do you get that a lot? And you're like, hey, you want to see my check.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, so I, I used to get that in the beginning, but now the people that are close to me you know a few people, four or five I might have shared hey, I make, this is what I make per month, just because I feel comfortable telling them that most people don't know, but yet you could do good. But yeah, I feel always thought you had to have like a million subscribers to make good money and that is just not the case. Right, you have to be consistent. You got to have a little bit of luck and you got to know when to adapt and like what, how to read your analytics and you can do okay.
Speaker 3:So, but yeah, I've showed one person once like what I made and they're like no, you don't make that. I showed them. I pulled up my YouTube studio and they went Holy, like they're like. I was like, yeah, this is a real thing, and they're like I don't make that at my W2. And I was like I know, and I still make more money doing the gig, I still work to get the economy.
Speaker 3:So really cool to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how do you balance the time while you're working on editing and stuff with your family? I mean, I don't know if you have a family at home. I hear some kids, so I assume that you do. But like I feel like with my podcast and stuff and I've kind of downsized a little bit to one podcast currently I struggled with my wife like trying to balance, trying to create a brand and stuff like that. Your family's probably like well, this is his job now, so that's probably a little bit easier. But did you find?
Speaker 1:in the beginning it was hard to balance that, you know.
Speaker 3:I the balance is something I kind of work. I look at every month or two just to see how I'm doing and I have an amazing I mean. So we have a, me and my girlfriend have a two year old. She's a stay at home mom, so all the everything is on me as far as financial, but everything's on her as far as like the house, right. So for me we kind of have a really good setup. I'm very lucky to have her because she allows me the time to do things, because she's holding all the other things down. But also I don't work Saturday and Sundays, so I haven't worked the Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 3:I think I've worked one, maybe two Saturdays in the last two years and I haven't worked a Sunday in almost three. So I give the weekends to my family and my friends and then I do YouTube and everything else and the content for Monday through Friday and while I might upload a video Saturday and go live on Sunday, that's like really easy for me to do. So I my balance is pretty good right now, but I think it could be a little bit better, but really it's. I mean, madison that's my girlfriend saying she does a lot to allow us to do what we do. We're kind of like team.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm very lucky in that regard.
Speaker 2:So we all know who does all the work right. Oh yeah, man, it's not us.
Speaker 3:What I do is actually really easy. I know it is because, I mean, my daughter is wild, right. So, like you know, the times that I'll we spend time together, we have things on Monday night and Saturday mornings, we do things and I take, but she's wild, so like she's actually working a lot harder than me I'm delivering McDonald's. I'm delivering McDonald's for a living, so that's super easy. He's raising a child, so like it's yeah, yeah, once, once they get older, it does get easier.
Speaker 1:I mean yeah you have different problems, but it's like you can go to the store, not worry about the house burning down to the ground. So I want to comment on this guy. He says eventually content sucks because tips and tricks get boring. I find that the tips and tricks are good for a while but, like again, I I, we call ourselves the infotainment podcast, where we kind of we kind of have fun and I think you're the same way, but you also provide some, some tips and tricks. But it's like I do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it kind of gets old, I don't provide them as much as I did in the beginning. But what I? It's a. It's a good point because I get bored talking about it. You can only talk about the same thing too many times, but that's why sometimes mine's more life log and do it as just the backdrop right, and I'll talk about other things. But with these apps you could talk about any app every couple of months. Things are changing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So there's, you're never you. You always have topics, right. And another thing with my channel I've been really lucky. I get subscribers every day, new ones. So I have to put in some tips and tricks every once in a while within a ride along, because new people are coming and they might not have seen the video I made two years ago, right?
Speaker 3:So not every video am I giving advice or tips or tricks, because, like that's, it can be boring and you can learn these apps pretty easy, pretty quickly, by watching one or two videos on YouTube. So I don't do a whole lot of the tips and tricks anymore unless something brand new is happening and then I'll talk about it and give a perspective on whether how it was for me in St Louis. But once again, that's just in St Louis. Somebody else in Atlanta, florida, cali can have a very, completely different experience. So my tips and tricks in St Louis might not, is not relevant to somebody in Cali, because they got propped 22, right? So I kind of learned that. But I still think there's value in them as long as the information is good.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's always value in knowledge, not, there's always valuable. So, hey, talk a little bit about how your content we talked to, briefly talked about that. But how does your content set itself apart from other creators out there, apart from the fact that you create daily? Of course, we talked about that, yeah, we talked about how you was kind of doing some tips and tricks and so, but what do you do different from other creators?
Speaker 3:Good question. I think I'm very opinionated. I don't, so I'm not very politically correct. I give it. I give my opinion on whether DoorDash is trash or whether DoorDash does something good. And when I talk about that they're trash, people are like okay, you know you're being negative. And when I say they're good, people call me a shill.
Speaker 3:Of course, hey, my door and I'm not being paid by and never have right and probably never will right. So For me, I'm just very like. I just give my perspective In a very raw way. I don't edit, I turned it, I literally turn the camera on. I've never wrote a script for any of my videos. I just say what's on my mind. Sometimes it gives me trouble, sometimes people like it, sometimes they hate it, but I think that's why I've done Okay, because, as for your audience, like you want, you don't want people to be indifferent, right? So I got a lot of people that disagree with me, but a lot of people agree with me and that's, that's okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this was great about the gig economy. We're independent. In that way, we can work them how we want, have different opinions, and I just kind of that's what my channel is kind of about. But I'm also big into like, betting on yourself. That's kind of my tagline on the channel. So I talk about motivation, next steps. I think the gig economy is great to work in if you have either an exit strategy or you're or you're doing it with some kind of way of like, and most people do this part-time. Yeah, the numbers tell us that.
Speaker 3:So, like I don't, I've never been somebody that's like, hey, you should just come into the gig economy, it's great, it's gonna be fantastic, you're gonna make 500 bucks a day forever. I don't believe that, right, no, no. So I tell people like, hey, let's, what are we working on next? And I'll challenge the community like you know, how are you doing? How long you working on this? Are you putting money to the side? What are you doing to bet on yourself? So my channel has always been like do it ashes there, but like.
Speaker 3:I'll give a quick analogy. So, like me, I feel like I'm like my, my, my content's not the best, right, but like it's like Rocky, the Rocky movies. Right, rocky is a boxing movie. He's boxing, but it's actually more about life and it's about his struggle, right, and how he gets to the ring. So door dash is the boxing part, but like Rocky's more than just boxing, if that makes sense, right. So my channel is more than just the door dash stuff. I think that's what brings people there, but initially I think they stay because they like the, the unapologetic Pedro, as some might call it.
Speaker 2:So I think really cool actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think nowadays I've been to a few podcast conferences and they're talking about like the raw is the better. People are getting tired of the, the curated video or what our picture or you know, the filters and stuff like that. They just want raw. I mean within, within reason. You know you can't just go like a crazy person, but you got to have a little balance there. But, yeah, I think that's such a good idea as a creator now is just kind of be yourself and Kind of just tell, tell your story through the things that you're talking about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I'm not somebody that's. I don't have the crazy editing and all the crazy equipment like that's great. I see a lot of other videos. I'm like man, that looks amazing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it looks like a week.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they've spent a week doing that. Like I love it. But, like I'm simple, I'm gonna turn the camera on it's vlog style, like it is what it is, let's, let's let it rip, like let's you know, and that's how I've always been. So if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Speaker 2:But don't you also, don't you also think sometimes that that it feels scripted, it feels not real if it's made, if it's made too too well?
Speaker 3:Hmm, I think sometimes, and especially when, what we do, because I think with us, yeah, I think if it's too scripted, it comes across that way, and I think a lot we're drivers, we're just out here driving. Whatever apps you do whether a tri-share food delivery I think a lot of people tune in to a podcast or video and they're listening as they're doing work and they're in their car and, and you know, if it's too fancy and stuff like I always thought I want my people to be able to Just listen and I have to look at it, yeah, and I think they can do that on a lot of my videos and they feel like they're getting some value from it.
Speaker 1:So, that's actually a really good point, because, like, if someone's like really breaking down, like Walmart, spark, I can't do big work and listen to that, because I'm popping in and out of the car you know what I mean like I've got a really focus, but no, I got a look at the road. Like you know. That's a really good point.
Speaker 3:I never thought of it that way, yeah, so I think I think a lot of people listen, will listen to me as they're working and they've told me that and then they might comment later or they might be, but I want to be able to just talk and give them a visual Representation of my day and they don't have to really even look at it. Yeah, I'm like it. I'm pretty decent now after doing it so long, kind of telling the story and and Talking about an offer or an order or this or that or a difficult one or a good one, and people can visualize it themselves, and I think that's why I don't need all that anything. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about the, the gig con. I saw that you guys just had that in Denver and it's really cool. As someone that has been to Podcast conferences like they are super fun I'm actually not going this year. Steve's mad, he's, he's low-level mad at me because I just see, yeah, I just. I don't think he really is, but it's in Denver this year on the podcast movement and I just couldn't, I couldn't. I have a Drive bus now school bus and it's just like it's right during the start of the season or the school
Speaker 1:year, so I just can't do it this year, but I really like that you have started doing this and of course, it's small, it's grassroots, it takes time and organization, but absolutely I think this is so important for for gig workers to have a little like Because we all work alone right, there's no water cooler we try to use the apps, we use telegram with a lot of people so that they can like, feel like they can just complain in there and because Facebook let's, and even on YouTube, right here all these comments, are you really getting Interaction? No, you're just saying something and you're not hearing someone's voice and stuff like that. So tell me a little bit about it, about gigcon, how it started and what your plans are for the future for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for mentioning it, because we're really proud of the three events we put on. This is an idea I had a while back. I remember I was filming a video and I remember just mentioning it as I'm filming my content Like hey, we'll be awesome if we got together and we could call it gigcon. And that video is still there somewhere and people are like, yeah, that would be cool and I had never seen it done, at least in our community. But obviously there's podcast conferences and W2 conferences, like it's a thing, right, and I was like it's virtual or in person and I thought man, could I put something like what's the interest? And people were talking about it and I was like let's just do it. Let's do it in St Louis.
Speaker 3:We did the first one last year in person in St Louis, but a hundred people showed up. I mean we put I hired some people, so I hired gig workers I got from like Craigslist and Facebook. It was an amazing inaugural event last year. Great companies were involved, great people. And then we did a virtual one. That was great. Me, I was hungry, steve right Sure, rodeo and Sam from J walk kind of put. The four of us put that virtual together and then this year the same four people brought it to Denver and it's a way, like you just said, we're in our car by ourselves, there's no water cooler.
Speaker 3:I want people to be able to get together for connection, to network, to meet each other. I think a lot of times when you meet somebody and you break bread, as I call it, you have a meal or a cocktail or a beer and you're talking. You cannot emulate that on YouTube. You just can't. No, you know, because it's just very unique and very different and it's great. We connect drivers with other drivers, other content creators, with companies that might have an app that could help them. So these events are.
Speaker 3:It's a gig economy event we call it gig con, but it's also about, like, it's more about connection and relating personally with each other and and and putting people together uh, constant creators and drivers that it would have never been, that would never have met before. Like we put door to S diary Zach drives fast, steve Hannibal, Kim side money plans, lewis Bertie from delivery TV dashing trader, like van from side hustle attic all in the same room, and we feel really proud that we could do that because it breaks down those walls and the community gets to see other people, other content creators, other drivers from all over the country together, yep, and I think it's a positive thing. We're going to do it. Every year, different city. It'll continue to grow and my, my hope, my, my dream, my aspiration is 10 years from now. This thing is huge and we're we are really helping people, but you got to start somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, this this past weekend in Denver was, was amazing, so how, how, uh, how many people did you guys have compared to a, D, and I'll go one.
Speaker 3:I think we had the same about the same maybe a little bit less in Denver, because it's not my hometown, right.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:But we still had. We had drivers from New York, florida, hawaii, nice, la, indiana, michigan, um, St Louis, uh, you know, we had a couple of drivers that are what they call them nomad drivers. They just traveled the country and they they made their way to Denver for this event. So really awesome. And then we did the Saturday event. Steve hosted the uh, the town hall, um had a senator there from Colorado and a US house representative, so those, the gig con and the Saturday event, were kind of together and merged.
Speaker 2:And we had.
Speaker 3:a lot of the people from Friday were at the Saturday event, um, so we're really trying to just be an impact for drivers, um, for their voices can be heard, but then it can also connect with each other.
Speaker 1:So what I think is really cool is yeah, we're all in comp Petition with each other, but not in the same market, Like obviously if everyone had a little conference just in Grand Rapids. Let's say, and we're all there swapping tips. It's like well, I'm competing against you, but everyone coming throughout the United States to one area. It's like, hey, our markets are different, tell me, tell me, what are you?
Speaker 1:doing Like because there, there are stuff out there Like even you and you know, you're a creator, you've been in the biz there's probably things out there that you don't know and that we don't know, that you could find out at a conference like that, absolutely.
Speaker 3:We, you know me, we did a Q and A towards the end and like asking drivers hey, what questions do you have? You know, we, we were able to give perspective right Because we have to understand, like you and I, the three of us, we, we know a lot, but there's also things we don't know. And when you, when you team up some, some veteran drivers with new drivers, there's going to be some learning there, but there's also learning from the new driver can teach a veteran driver something too. It's on their market alone, because markets can be very different. So I think we all just like to share stories.
Speaker 3:As far we have channels and podcasts, we like to share stories. It's relatable. We like to talk about the good stuff, the bad stuff and it's a way we can kind of get it out of our brain. You talk about water cooler, like we go to the water cool at W2, you're kind of probably complaining about your boss or you're doing this. It's no different what we do, you know, but. But we do it virtually.
Speaker 3:But these conferences are right where let's do it in person, let's get, let's give the community something to look forward to, right. So if you have a W2 and you know that every year there's a Christmas party. You know what, hey? That Christmas party is always kind of fun. I'm really looking forward to that. It makes the W2 a little more easy to swallow when times are tough, right? So in a gig economy as you're out here struggling, and a lot of us are, let's give the drivers something to look forward to every year, right, when they can come together, learn, grow, share perspectives, just have a good time, if that's what you're into. So this thing is going to continue and it's going to be bigger and better every year.
Speaker 1:I'm excited. I definitely need to go to it. One question I had you did the Q&A. Did it turn into like somehow the comments where everyone just bitches the whole time, or was it constructive? Did you have to nip some of it and say, hey, let's try to. You know this is a good question, but let's, let's take it offline, if per se you know what I mean. Did you have to do that?
Speaker 3:We you know me and Bentley we talked about some things and we opened it up at the end of our conversation and we didn't have any negative stuff. We had drivers asking questions about hey, what about this, or are you seeing this? It was more like our perspective. So it didn't turn into like a complain fest or anything like that, and if it did, that's all right. But yeah, we didn't have to. It was very organically just good. And you know, most of the negative stuff I see is in the comments section.
Speaker 3:But you know it's easy to be a keyword warrior and say negative things, and it's hardest to do it in person, right?
Speaker 1:So we didn't have any of that I think it's fine, Like after the conference, when you guys are having a beer and a pizza like just a bitch about it like you know, F this company. I'm just so tired of it and those kind of things. Well, I'm excited for it. I think you know you'll, you've made it with that. If one of the big companies reaches out to you and says, hey, I want to have a booth there, and then and you're like, okay.
Speaker 3:I think, yeah, I mean, you know we shout out to solo moves, oh yeah, well, they don't count.
Speaker 1:I'm talking like that oh.
Speaker 3:I'm like well they count.
Speaker 1:but I mean, I'm talking, those are pro driver companies. Yeah, You're talking about like, do it. As in Sikhar, uber lift where they're like. Hey we, we see you're doing this, can we have a conversation? Then you're like, yeah, probably not, I don't want you there.
Speaker 3:You know, my goal is to have at least one company there next year, because we haven't done that yet. That's like that, or they could come and like drivers can ask them questions, or they could talk about new things that are coming Cause I think that we so, if that that will happen, but I got a lot of work to do to get there.
Speaker 3:But they end up helping you pay for all that stuff, so you invite them there and then, they're like yeah, we pay for all this, so you know, jason, if Tony, if Tony and his, his minions, they want to write me a check for 20 G's, I'll put door dash, I'll wear a door dash shirt and make it sponsor the entire next conference, and I would happily do that. Or Dara from Uber hey, just $20,000. Hey, I'll give you. I'll give you two booths and they could 20 grand.
Speaker 1:You're setting your bar way too low. They can afford a lot.
Speaker 3:They were profitable this quarter, so we could put on a really good conference for 20,000.
Speaker 1:That's true Even better than we just had.
Speaker 3:So I'm just throwing it out there. If you guys are listening, email me. Yeah, that's great Well.
Speaker 1:Pedro, I can't thank you enough for coming on and sharing the stream with your fans. That's been amazing. If you, I mean obviously the people that we have on, I looked we had about 12. So I mean just those 12 people that don't know, pedro, you go to his page and subscribe.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and like it. And hey guys, listen, go check out the Geek Economy podcast you guys do weekly, right? This is number 157. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's every. We do a live every Wednesday at 8 pm Eastern, and then on Monday the audio portion comes out.
Speaker 3:So hey, I got to show something real quick, jason. I saw Steve with a. He asked about a basketball, so this is something that was gifted to me by Steve Friday night after gigcon, and he had some people sign it, so thank you, steve.
Speaker 2:Nice, very cool, yeah, very very cool.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan.
Speaker 3:So that's why he did. That's why he did that.
Speaker 1:Where did you get that on air sign?
Speaker 3:Steve Steve as well.
Speaker 1:Aye Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 3:Do you have one?
Speaker 2:That's from Steve too.
Speaker 3:See, I have mine up, so Jason should have his up. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:Well, when we do this one, we're doing it Yesper's remote when we do our regular show. That's not the interview portion we're. He's in studio, so it's a different view.
Speaker 3:So we definitely have it on that one. So, yeah, you can. So you could have it on like a desk too. Yeah, that's how we have it.
Speaker 1:So we have a camera that faces over there and shoots this way.
Speaker 2:And then we have our individuals too.
Speaker 1:So yeah, for sure. Well, thank you so much, pedro. Stay on the line after we disconnect, but I appreciate everyone coming on and checking our show out too. It really means a lot and, yeah, we'll catch you next week, 8 PM Eastern.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, guys.
Speaker 1:This podcast is produced and edited by hey Guys Media Group. Want to start a podcast? Check out heyguysmediagroupcom. Thanks guys.
