I'm expecting to have my 107 in the next couple of weeks and will be looking to put it to some good use. What kind of work is every one doing. I expect real estate is a a large part. I sure would appreciate any advice I might get. I'm excited about doing something I have always loved doing and making some money at it.
USA What kinds of Part 107 work are you doing.
- Thread starter Bob Stekeur
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Hey Bob,
We do real estate (aerial photography, 360x360 panos, videos), thermal imaging, NDVI crop monitoring, roof inspections, wind turbine inspections, radio tower inspections, wildlife monitoring, search and rescue, weddings, family reunions, construction site inspections, golf course promos, car dealer tv commercials, etc... Other things might be location specific. Here in Colorado we get clients wanting to capture their white water rafting trips, zip line adventures, river surfing, etc. I would suggest getting good at using other prgs, like Drone Deploy and Pix4D. Where are you at? Weather can dictate types of work as well. For some reason realtors don't like 2 feet of snow in their twilight shots.
Bill
Colorado Dronography
We do real estate (aerial photography, 360x360 panos, videos), thermal imaging, NDVI crop monitoring, roof inspections, wind turbine inspections, radio tower inspections, wildlife monitoring, search and rescue, weddings, family reunions, construction site inspections, golf course promos, car dealer tv commercials, etc... Other things might be location specific. Here in Colorado we get clients wanting to capture their white water rafting trips, zip line adventures, river surfing, etc. I would suggest getting good at using other prgs, like Drone Deploy and Pix4D. Where are you at? Weather can dictate types of work as well. For some reason realtors don't like 2 feet of snow in their twilight shots.
Bill
Colorado Dronography
Thanks for the reply Bill. I'm in SW Florida. I'll be looking to do anything I can. Probably not much white water rafting or snow. lol I'm a bit overwhelmed on where to start. I'm getting my LLC and plan to start a web page.
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I would start with what you know. If you can take great still photos but are still too shaky to do smooth videos then start with that. Are you going to be doing all your own editing? Can you use Lightroom? Photoshop? Premiere? If a customer called you up today and asked for a Twilight photo of their home, could you do that? Or a 60 sec edited video? Of course not everything drone related requires these skills, but if you want to do real estate (especially in your market) you will need to be very proficient in using editing software for both stills and video. There are a lot of golf courses down there, maybe try to get in with those folks? Tourist vacation packages might be a good idea down there. I have a house in Bradenton, FL so I know your area very well. I used to do weddings on Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key, although weddings can be tricky and a tad stressful. Can you take an amazing sunset on gulf type of photo?
I've been flying everything RC for the last 10 years and drones before they were drones so I'm comfortable flying. I've been using Photoshop for a while but I just recently started using Premiere and have a lot to learn with that. It's all a lot to learn but it something I enjoy doing. Trying to market myself is going to be the most difficult, a salesman I'm not
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Hey Bob,
What about working for an established drone company? That way you could avoid all the business issues like marketing, taxes, legal issues, direct sales, overhead and expenses, etc. and still do what you enjoy doing. All we did to market ourselves was post our work online. Of course we started a website, Facebook page and created a YouTube Channel - but to this day we've never done direct marketing like flyers or an email campaign. We've also never went door to door trying to solicit work from other companies. Just posted our material. Word of mouth travels fast in the real estate community.
One thing that really set us apart from our local competitors was not charging in advance! When we started a few months ago we had a couple other companies that had been providing drone services for over a year. They were "real pilots" that were taking advantage of the FAA's 333 rule and charging folks a king's ransom for what I would call pretty lame work. Today those companies are either gone or trying to fit into a different business model. One guy here in Pueblo turned his "Aerial Photography" company into a "FAA 107 Training" type company. Yes, he is actually trying to create more competitors for himself. We also have plenty of kids with their Christmas presents trying to be legit drone companies to deal with. I think that will be the major challenge over the next year or so - weeding out all the kids with Phantoms. So we have "real pilots" charging $500 for one single pano shot and kids charging $35 for the same thing. Well, not really the same thing - one company uses a S1000 with a $15k DSLR the other a Phantom 3 Standard. Trying to find a market in the middle can be tricky, which is why we refuse to take anyone's money until AFTER they are 100% satisfied with their project. Might sound risky, but we've NEVER had a client not pay us and plenty of repeat customers.
Bill
Colorado Dronography
What about working for an established drone company? That way you could avoid all the business issues like marketing, taxes, legal issues, direct sales, overhead and expenses, etc. and still do what you enjoy doing. All we did to market ourselves was post our work online. Of course we started a website, Facebook page and created a YouTube Channel - but to this day we've never done direct marketing like flyers or an email campaign. We've also never went door to door trying to solicit work from other companies. Just posted our material. Word of mouth travels fast in the real estate community.
One thing that really set us apart from our local competitors was not charging in advance! When we started a few months ago we had a couple other companies that had been providing drone services for over a year. They were "real pilots" that were taking advantage of the FAA's 333 rule and charging folks a king's ransom for what I would call pretty lame work. Today those companies are either gone or trying to fit into a different business model. One guy here in Pueblo turned his "Aerial Photography" company into a "FAA 107 Training" type company. Yes, he is actually trying to create more competitors for himself. We also have plenty of kids with their Christmas presents trying to be legit drone companies to deal with. I think that will be the major challenge over the next year or so - weeding out all the kids with Phantoms. So we have "real pilots" charging $500 for one single pano shot and kids charging $35 for the same thing. Well, not really the same thing - one company uses a S1000 with a $15k DSLR the other a Phantom 3 Standard. Trying to find a market in the middle can be tricky, which is why we refuse to take anyone's money until AFTER they are 100% satisfied with their project. Might sound risky, but we've NEVER had a client not pay us and plenty of repeat customers.
Bill
Colorado Dronography
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I'm new to the business in New Jersey. I've had a half a dozen jobs so far. Roof inspections and environmental remediation companies.
Sent from my iPhone using InspirePilots
Sent from my iPhone using InspirePilots
At least in my area, Real Estate is a tough nut to crack... Nobody know who's going to pay for the promo, and they don't want to pay very much for it. I've found that local Social Media spots (mostly 30 seconds) is a great way to help promote local small businesses. I charge anywhere from $395 to $695 depending on the level of difficulty or airspace. Other than that, I've done some Engineering Projects for larger Companies, Hotel/Resort Promotion, Police Recruitment Videos, Lawsuit Documentation of OilSpills, Right of Way, City Promotion, Park and Rec, Promos, Car Dealerships, or whatever I can get. There's a lot of avenues out there, and you have to really push it. I spent a lot of time doing free stuff just to get some material to show, and having your 107 is just one more feather in your hat to earn some business. Its a lot of work, but its also something we love to do.
Florida Drone Supply
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Hi Bob. Where abouts in SW FL are you? Why equipment do you have? We might be able to help.
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Depending on what type of work you're looking to do and once you're comfortable with Photoshop, it'll probably be worth considering upgrading to an X5 for your Inspire or getting a Phantom 4 Pro at some point.
The P3P and your X3 use essentially the same 12MP sensor. Don't get me wrong - they are good cameras, but technologically speaking they're quickly getting left in the dust.
I only mention this because unfortunately these days it's not enough to be a good RC pilot (which no doubt you are by virtue of your 10 years experience). You've got to be able to bring the quality imagery to market as well.
Thank you, I know the X3 isn't going to cut it. I've been looking for a decent used X5 to start with. If I can make any money at this I plan to invest it in equipment. I do appreciate the advice
Florida Drone Supply
Approved Vendor
An X5 would be a good idea - and I am talking to a couple guys that are thinking about trading up from their X5 so maybe I can put you together if and when you are ready...or certainly there will always be people looking to do the same thing later.
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