Well… it was my second day in Rickshaw to office. This time I was returning. On the way we got stuck in traffic and it made both of us talk. This guy was one of the very decent guys and his experiences were really good.
1. He told me that during his business hours, unlike his other professional colleagues, he never says no to any customer and that pays huge dividends to him. On one occasion, a couple asked him to drop then to Pune railway station. Being a rush hour, quite a few had said no to them. He was on his way to station and this couple asked him to drop them to a good hotel near the station. He dropped them to one on the way. The security guy asked him to wait for sometime and the hotel management paid him 200 bucks for bringing them a customer. Which was almost 5 times the rent he got from the couple.
2. Quite a few such incidents were of similar nature. He once dropped a passenger from University to Bhosale nagar, which is about 2-3 km. Again few others had refused to come. The passenger asked him, if he can wait for another 30 minutes, he was going to the airport. He waited and earned 250 bucks.
3. With another passenger who asked him to drop to the airport, he told me the most shocking story. At the airport there is a long queue of autowalas and standing in that queue is sheer waste of time. So many of them return empty handed. But this time when he dropped a passenger, another autowalah came and asked, if he was willing to go anywhere. He said yes. The other guy said, his number had come but he did not want to go and was willing to send the passenger to him. He soon brought the passenger. The fare to his destination was fixed at 160. The other autowalah asked him 50 buck out of that and he got 110. Being curious, this fellow turned on his meter and found that the actual fare to the destination would have been 80. So he was still in surplus. He told me that this is a regular business of some guys at the airport. They wait in the queue and earn commission, without going anywhere. Since the pre-paid fares take care of 50% return charges, it was always affordable.
However, keeping the airport story apart, moral of his experiences was, if you are willing to take any opportunity in business, you are likely to come across bigger opportunities. Those who are very choosy, typically losers and cribbers. Be ready for hard work and fortune will follow you.