Understanding Profit and Loss in the Gig Economy

We discuss what your true earnings are as an independent contractor in delivery-based gig economy work. What are your true earnings when you deliver for Doordash, Uber Eats, Instacart, Grubhub and others?

Independent contractors who use their cars heavily often have two different profits: their true profit (what's left after true car expenses) and their taxable profit. We examine how that works and how to consider what your actual earnings are.

We look at the three most important statistics that help you determine how profitable your delivery business is. These key performance indicators give you a way to evaluate earnings on a delivery-by-delivery basis as well as for hourly, daily, monthly and annually.

The best strategy to pay yourself from your gig economy business, while ensuring you have future expenses and taxes covered. This is how you can give yourself a paycheck that is reflective of your true earnings.

Because gig economy companies like Doordash, Uber, Lyft, and Instacart are not employees, it's difficult to use your independent contractor earnings as a basis for loans or verifying income for getting an apartment. We examine how profit and loss works and how to use that to provide the information lenders and landlords are looking for.

For independent contractors who are intimidated by the idea of keeping records for their business, we examine seven simple concepts to make bookkeeping easier.

We discuss how, as independent contractors, we are not reliant on the pay model from companies like Uber, Doordash, Lyft, and Instacart. We discuss how to approach things to improve profits regardless of the pay that comes from gig companies.

There are times when low-paying offers can make you more profitable in the big picture. We examine the loss leader principle used by retailers, and how to apply that to delivery offers from Doordash, Uber Eats, Instacart, Grubhub and others.

One of the biggest disadvantages of self-employment over employment is the lack of benefits. We talk about taking control of your situation and providing your own benefits such as paid time off.

Gas prices are known to spike from time to time. The cost of driving is often the greatest expense for delivery and rideshare contractors. We examine how increases in gas prices compare to overall earnings and to the total cost of operating your vehicle to put the cost of gas into perspective.