How delivery work changed — and saved — this Stride member’s life

This is part of a series of stories we’re sharing about independent workers to shed light on their unique stories. We spoke with Mary Jo to learn more about her experience as an independent worker with DoorDash and how becoming self-employed saved her life.

Hi, Mary Jo! Could you start off by telling us about yourself and how you found Stride?

I currently live in Jacksonville, Florida, and I’ve been full-time with DoorDash since October 2020, and I absolutely love it!

I heard about Stride through the DoorDash Facebook pages. Whenever anybody asks for ways to track mileage and prepare for tax season, Stride is the app that is suggested most often! It’s easy to use and it makes tracking miles, taxes, and my weekly pay so easy in a central location.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face while being self-employed?

I have severe social anxiety because of a facial deformity I was born with. I also have severe chronic pain from an old work injury. Both of these things make it difficult for me to work any kind of job. My facial deformity also makes it difficult for me to get any kind of job, even if I have many years of experience. 

When I found out about food delivery services, I tried it out just to see what it would be like. At first, the anxiety was a little overwhelming, but I pushed through it and started to realize that I can work all day long and wear my sunglasses so nobody really sees my deformity. I’m also not dealing with a lot of people one-on-one all day, so that definitely helps my anxiety, too. 

Because I am sitting more often now than I was before, my level of pain has decreased significantly. It also helped me get out of an extremely toxic work environment at my last job—going into delivery service has literally saved my life.

How about the other side of the coin: were there any advantages you experienced as an independent worker?

I guess I answered this in the previous section, but being able to conceal my deformity has helped me greatly and I have actually become more outgoing in this job! 

I feel like for the first time in my 45-year life that I have control over my life—that I have freedom to have a life outside of my job. I worked retail for 30 years, where you usually don’t get holidays or special occasions off. You celebrate them pretty much when they're over (if you do at all). For the first time since I was 15 years old, I get to celebrate all of the holidays the way I want to. 

Since I'm driving around all day, I get to witness the seasons changing and nature more often, which is something that I absolutely love! I can stop what I'm doing if somebody needs me, I can plan trips anytime I want to, and I do this job around my life. It's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time!

What advice do you have for others who want to start doing 1099 work?

Don't stress about it. Take your time and pay attention to details. Don't speed! Nobody's order is worth losing your life over. Keep yourself safe. Make sure you are always tracking your miles! Treat everybody's order as you would want yours treated.

Anything else you want to share that I didn't already ask?

I know people think that people like me do this job because we can't get any other kind of job or we're not intelligent or we are lazy. But most of us really love what we do and we're very thankful for it. We do this job because we can and we want to not because we have to. It doesn't work for everybody but for some of us, it's the perfect fit! I wish that I had found something like this years ago! 

Thank you for sharing your story and advice with the rest of the Stride community, Mary Jo!