Driving for Lyft, DoorDash or Uber is a great way to make a little bit of money. Getting started is fairly easy. The problem is your income will be limited because the companies take most of the money, leaving you something close to minimum wage. It may be even less than minimum wage.

Here’s how to defeat that: Give every passenger a business card, and let them know that you offer elite car service. They can call you for their regular business, such as weekly medical or business appointments, airport runs and so on. There are at least five reasons they may want to contact you directly rather than just using their Uber app:

1. You can be there right on time. For instance, if they need a ride at 10:15am, they don’t have to log into Uber and hope someone will come along in a reasonable amount of time.

2. You might offer to charge a little less, but you’ll still make more than if you took the ride as a company driver.

3. You can give higher-quality service, for instance offering a coffee and snacks to your passengers.

4. If you have a winning personality, which often means just asking questions that your passengers will be delighted to answer, then of course they’d want to ride with you.

5. If you feel like a safe driver, they will trust you more than whatever random driver the company provides.

You can look at the General Business Action Pack to discover other ways to promote your independent driving business.