Negotiating using the BATNA technique is huge for saving you money or making you more money.
Last year, after playing an afternoon tennis match at my club, I decided to switch on my Uber driver app to try and catch a fare heading home. Making money by going in a direction I planned to go anyway feels great if it works. This was before Uber came out with their new tool to allow for direction-based rides based on a pre-inputted destination address.
My tennis club is in the middle of the city, so I knew my chances were less than 30% to head back west since 70% of the population of SF lives on the eastern half. I’m a gambling man and this time I lost. I picked up a mother daughter couple close to my club who were headed northeast to their hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf. Oh well, at least I’d make about $15 and perhaps catch some surge fares down there heading back west.
The daughter told me she just started attending Cal Berkeley, my business school alma mater, so we got into an engaging discussion on the importance of figuring out how to leverage the internet to make a a better living if she learned only one thing in college. She agreed.