Subsisting with your smartphone as your only employer is n’t as comfortable as Uber wants to make it depend , but – as either you , your neighbour , or your best friend has   surely   already instruct – it ’s doable if you use the correct shaft . A whole industriousness has sprouted from that reality – and two of its whiz nipper are spinning out their root right here in LA .

First , a bit of setting : it should be no surprise that LA ’s become ground - zero for the new side - hustle - as - sidereal day - Book of Job game . Long before Uber model the applied science to farm out any overhaul with a couple swipes , LA was already the proverbial home of the side job , since anyone who moved here with a bus just the ticket and a dream spent all their non - dream hours tackling singular jobs anyhow .

bust actors and musicians were often waiters , handymen , personal supporter , drivers , nanny-goat , and general lackey ; since the coming of Uber , there ’s the ability to make some money work on those on - demand apps for everything : dog walking ( Wag ! ) , errands ( TaskRabbit ) , grocery store shopping ( Instacart ) , takeout ( DoorDash ) , every restaurant and retail random ( Postmates ) , laundry ( Washio ) , and many more . It was just a matter of meter before someone took all these mini - industries – and made an industry out of make sense of them . Which is where Harry Campbell comes into play .

LA guys uber

Jason Hoffman/Thrillist

The side-hustle blogger

The westside of Los Angeles is Harry Campbell ’s first and Uber ’s 2nd home . The saturation of Campbell ’s experience as a new driver with Uber in the competitive Orange County and Los Angeles securities industry produced the docile moment that finally became his ride hail consultancy - in - a - web log , The Rideshare Guy , which provide advice for on - demand worker on what program they can utilize to twist their side - hustle jobs into real moneymakers . That includes advice for newbies on trail fuel consumption rate and receipts , preview weather , and bode taxis , among other things . In addition , Campbell also watches policy from both the companies and local governments . In publishing what he wish he knew when he was commence , he has ostensibly kill the acquisition curved shape for new drivers and for other gig workers whose tools overlap .

And through the web log , Campbell has become the unofficial commercial enterprise leader of ride hail drivers all over the country . “ [ Working it as a business organization ] is not rocket science , but it ’s a little more complex than it seems , ” he said of the need for his ever - turn depository library of unspoilt practices .

Campbell ’s not some pilot - by - night hustler , either : he ’s articulated , self - propelled , and accomplished . And , like many gig workers , he veered into his new business unexpectedly : after graduating from college in 2009 , he started a vocation in aerospace technology , before tackling Uber on the side . In 2015 , he quit the day job to fully dedicate himself to his blog .

Harry Campbell

Harry Campbell|Lindsey Arnold

Never a professional machine driver or writer , his ordinary - guy rope - figuring - it - out feeling vibrate . “ A lot of people relate to that , because they ’re not expert , either , ” Campbell said .

Over time , though , he has acquired expertness . It ’s necessary in the LA market , which is , counterintuitively , a beast to navigate incisively because pilfer for your next ride has become so popular .

Angelenos being fervent disciples of drive hail really decoct demand , as more drivers join both Uber and Lyft , leave few customers for each . And number one wood have no control over rates . So Campbell cut through periodic inducement from the company – extra money to drive between sure dates , or above a certain number of rides per workweek – so his followers can stay afloat . “ A lot of Uber ’s promotion / guarantee offers are aim , but when they are n’t , you need to think about whether increased competition will hurt your chances of encounter the term of the publicity , ” Campbell warned his readership in a situation last March .

Vugo

Courtesy of Vugo

drive hail is so important to LA that it ’s a political requisite : LAX ’s Uber and Lyft policy was a headline - grabbing portion of Mayor Eric Garcetti ’s April 2015 State of the City speech . The mayor promised aerodrome nibble up would be available , on his executive order .

Garcetti , for reasons of LAX negotiations and fees , and the general pace of change via City Hall , did n’t get drivers of both companies in until late in the twelvemonth . During the month when drive hail was allowed but not useable , Campbell wrote for his readership ’s clientele , update them on insurance policy , prime them to become customers as soon as legally potential . In the interim , he and his lector devised an destruction game in an article ’s scuttlebutt section : take a complimentary shuttle just beyond the perimeter of the drome proper , then hold your drive from there .

It was a dim-witted root , but one that forced those shuttlecock services to start checking receipts and passes from passenger , slowing down an already excruciating experience . Now , that Uber and Lyft are earmark at LAX , both passengers and drivers are far felicitous – and Campbell ’s disciples are follow every post to see what ’s in storehouse next .

The guy who’ll make your money make money

Every good business bring to a point where it needs to diversify its income streams , which , for new ride - hail drivers , is where Vugo comes in . Started by DTLA - based James Bellefeuille , Vugo skip to be an advertising chopine for mobility media – think the screens you see in taxicabs , only using location data point to direct passenger in ride hail cars with usance ads – and to impart cold , intemperate dollars to new drivers ’ pouch .

“ People are becoming passengers now more than they ever have before , ” Bellefeuille said in an August telephone set interview from his Downtown LA Centennial State - working space , on why he sees a potent future for his fellowship .

drive hail trends and demographic are on his side . A Pew Research Center study release in May show that 10 % of 18- to 29 - year - olds , the generation that determines next technology and service adoption , currently use drive hail on a daily or weekly basis in urban area . nationally , it ’s 7 % .

And frequent drive hail substance abuser are more probable to use a range of transit options . That is , there will be more and more of this grouping sit where they might want to watch something , with little else to do .

Vugo also has a tip function for Uber driver – a longstanding issue for drivers , irked that high-pitched - quality service did n’t necessarily boost their earnings . Vugo will have two modes of its engineering science uncommitted to advertisers , one more targeted than the other . Marketers can pay to display advertizement based on someone ’s location , or summate on targeting ground on how riders interact with the content on the tablet .

For instance , approaching the airdrome , viewers might get ads for Brookstone , Samsonite , traveling organizers , vacation packages , and restaurants in the end . But the people riding are all of unlike demographic with dissimilar income degree and buying preferences . Companies can give to have ads calibrated to the tablet ’s use as an entertainment pith , so that the fraternity boy with Kimmel skit on loop gets , say , beer and technical school gadget advert , while the professor look for YouTube for an urban planning panel discussion catch laptop computer and enterprise software system commercial message .

For now , Vugo is in the final phase of testing . But Bellefeuille approximate there are over 60,000 participating monthly drivers in the LA metro region that could start running Vugo when it becomes available in October .

As far as the entertainment factor , Vugo has met with multi - channel networks ( companies that agent for nascent content on YouTube , packaging and market it to contend against major mass medium producers ) and is target ball of fire right bearer like Disney and CBS for popular film and television .

All of this is sort of the ultimate irony : the likeliness that your Uber driver moved to LA to get into entertainment is high – and now they ’ll be making their side - task money from Hollywood too , even if it ’s nowhere near the dream they came here with in the first place .

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