This Dasher and Personal Finance Blogger's Advice for Aspiring Independent Worker

This is part of a series of stories we’re sharing about independent workers. We spoke with Shonnita, an educator, DoorDash driver, and personal finance blogger, to learn more about her experience being her own boss.

Hi, Shonnita! Tell us about yourself and what kind of self-employed work you do.

Hello! I am a full-time educator, part-time DoorDash driver, and in my spare time, I run a personal finance blog titled Noir In Color.

I started DoorDash about five years ago. I picked up DoorDash as a side hustle to help pay down my student loan debt, and it's completely changed my mindset about how I value money and understand the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

As a Dasher, I’m essentially running my own small business, and it's my job to understand if the business is financially healthy by tracking my expenses to keep the business running while also documenting my income accomplishments. Until I began using the Stride app, I didn’t realize how important that was. 

What are some unique challenges you’ve faced while working for yourself? 

When you work as an independent contractor on these gig economy apps, you learn how to problem solve quickly and troubleshoot. If you don't learn how to do that, you'll be spending hours on the phone with customer service, and that can eat into your "Dash-time." 

I've learned so much just by trial and error and reflecting on how I can get better: better with my daily, weekly, and monthly earnings and better with time management in getting orders to my customers quickly and accurately.

How has Stride’s tax and mileage tracking app helped you overcome those challenges? 

The Stride app has been a game changer in the way I began to understand profit, loss, and expenses.  Because of the Stride app, I've gotten so many compliments on my bookkeeping when I go to file my taxes each year (it's such a breeze!).

I even qualified for a forgivable loan through the Paycheck Protection Program back in 2020 because I was able to accurately provide financial documentation that my small business as an independent contractor with DoorDash was negatively impacted by the pandemic.

What is your favorite part about working for yourself? 

I love the freedom that this job provides me to manage my own time. I don't have that flexibility in a regular nine to five job, so it's fantastic being able to make extra income on my own terms without any pressure of having to be somewhere at an exact time.

How did you muster the courage to go out on your own? 

To get acquainted with the job and become confident, start by making deliveries in areas you know during daylight. You can then extend your working hours to increase earnings. With time and experience, you will learn where is best to go for pickups and when it's most profitable to do them.

What are some of the greatest benefits to using Stride’s app?

Two of the greatest benefits of using the Stride app are being able to see your estimated tax expenses so that you know how much of your earnings you'll need to save for taxes. Seeing this information is helpful so that you don't have any surprises come tax time. 

The other is seeing a record of your profit from year to year. I've been using the Stride app for five years and I can easily go back and look at my income and expense logs to see what time of year earned me the most money and what times of the year are slow for me. That information helps me not get discouraged if I'm not making as much on the app as I thought I would. It helps to go back into prior years to see if there are any trends.

Anything else you’d like to share about Stride?

I just want to thank the Stride team for this opportunity and for making such a great user-friendly app.  You all have saved this Dasher so much money in deductible expenses!

What advice would you give to others aspiring to go out on their own and be their own boss?

Establish an earnings goal for each day, week, month, and year(s) you intend to work so that you can ensure you're making advancements towards your financial goals. Set a schedule that works best for you and your lifestyle so that you don't burn yourself out. Last but not least, prioritize health and safety first when working on deliveries — this will help you take advantage of the many flexibilities of being your own boss. Good luck! 

Thanks for sharing your story with the Stride community, Shonnita! You can see more of her work on her website and Instagram.