How I got a motivated seller lead from an Uber ride

[Sean Dolan]

I was sitting at Starbucks finishing up a proposal for a really important prospect (online advertising audit for a Fortune 500 company). 

Ironically, I'm sitting there finishing up a sample document for a 5-figure audit and getting stuck on Microsoft Word's damn formatting issues. (don't lie, you've all been there) Can someone tell me why Microsoft Word for Mac is so damn different than PC? Ugh, anyway. 

I was running out of time and I had to be at a local meetup that night (I'm on the board, and platinum sponsor, so it's important I'm there) and I'm out of time, and not finished with the proposal. 

I decided to call an Uber to drive me to the meetup, so I can continue working for the 30 minute drive and wrap up the proposal, to get it in by west coast end of business day. 

I introduce myself to the Uber driver, and as we pull out of the Starbucks, a police officer pulls out abruptly in front of our car, and my driver slams on his brakes. "He's sure throwing his weight around eh?" says the uber drive, and we laugh. I explained that I have a lot of respect for officers, but only up until the point that they disrespect me. I then explained that a couple weeks ago, we were looking at a foreclosure in a really nice neighborhood here in town. It was late at night, and the lights had been shut off, so we were all going through the house with our phone lights, trying to see it. Cops were called, guns were drawn, and I respectfully declined to present my ID, because they didn't have reasonable suspicion that I committed a crime. The officers weren't happy about it, but knew I was right, and complied without issue. 

So this guy goes, 'so you buy houses?' and proceeds to explain to me that he's looking to downsize, has 3 empty rooms in his house, has owned it for 12 years, there are 5 rental properties on his street, etc. 10 minutes into our ride, my agent-friend was looking up comps on his address, and I got his phone number to reach out to him later. Uber ride cost me $40 + $20 tip. I'll pay $60 motivated seller leads all day. :D

We'll see how this turns out, but the moral of the story is to always bring up what you do. Always. Even to Uber drivers. ;)