YOU Should Start a Drone Business Now - Here's Why!

Russ, I’m a newly retired architect, also Part 107 for 4 1/2 years, and a former board member of one of the local Economic Development Boards. What you stated about contacting the local officials is exactly what I’m in the process of doing. The one item, I believe is the Most Important, but you did not mention, is the absolute necessity of obtaining Liability Insurance, prior to the very first business flight. Starting out, policies can be on a per project basis, hourly fee of approx $25, or on a monthly fee of $100. I’m sure your aware of several insurance companies that offer drone policies. I highly recommend insurance to anyone interested in starting a drone business; not only a necessity, but marketing your firm as having insurance s also very helpful in establishing your credibility.

Hey, you made a video about the same topic around a year ago. Back then, I started my drone business because of you. I am 14 years old and earned $3000+ last year just from drone photography and videography. Thanks for inspiring me!

Russ, I just wanted to add that I recently got hired on by a company that does home inspections from wind or storm damage. I go and take photos of the house with my phone and then take aerials of the roof. Literally, everything uploads to an app, and that's it. The site is finished and uploaded before I leave the clients home. I have been geting 1-3 inspections a week. That's good side business for me and my family.

Speaking of niches: I'm currently working on building a drone business around taking pictures of boats/yachts for their owners. I take the pics and have them printed on canvas so the owners can always admire their boat, even outside of the season. Worked with some sailing clubs so far and there seems to be a lot of interest :).

The trick is networking. As cliche as it is, it’s what works. I’m 16 and have worked with companies like Hyundai, Magazine corporations, ESPN, SEO Level Up and more. It all started by getting to know people. Great video! Biggest thing to take away is don’t give work away free. It will come back to bite you later.

I passed my exam from tony and Chelsea’s free study guide they posted. It’s an hour long video and only tells you what you need to pass. I l just listened 10–15 times while I was driving or working and I was able to pass with a 70. No practice test and they explained the trick questions very well.

Last year I visited a friend of mine who owns his old family hotel/restaurant. I flew a few minutes and gave him some photos and videos, just between friends. They now have one of my photos on the back of their catalog. But what I want to mention here is, that my wife looked at the videos and noticed, that one of their photovoltaic cells on the roof looked off. I showed him and said, I have no idea why this is. A few weeks later he called me, telling me I should do this for a living. He told his service guy, they checked the cells and the one in question was in fact broken and needed to be replaced. Without me he never would have known. So maybe also contact people who have PV systems on their property and offer inspection flights :)

I’m a real estate photographer, most agents are not just looking for drone photos, they want the whole package available for every job. Drone photos, interior, 360 tours, floor plans, video…etc. Drone is a tiny part of the business honestly and to do it well takes thousands of hours of research and practice…on top of equipment costs. In some high end areas you may be able to sell your drone services direct to re photographers who do not want to deal with drones themselves though.

In Germany, farmers are obliged to search their fields for deer kitzen before mowing. This is now often done with drones and infrared cameras.

This video is right on time. Just last night I was looking up information about writing off a laptop for a drone business. But making money with my drone has been the goal since I received my license last year in February. I contacted a number of real estate agents to do videos/drone videography for their properties. Not much success with that because, as you mentioned, most agents already have their own videographer. But now I'm going to aim for construction sites doing progress monitoring/photography/videography for buildings being constructed. Another industry to target is architecture. I met an architect in Lima, Peru back in March who saw me flying my drone in a park and said he could use it for one of his projects. We exchanged numbers and a couple of days later I went by to see what the project was. It was a pool he designed for his apartment building. So the next day I went and did some photos for him. There's also the oil and gas industry, agriculture and films. For anyone thinking of other industries to target. But it's been on my mind heavily, since I've returned to the States, to start making money with my drone. It really is a money making machine. Drone services are in demand. Thank you for posting this video!

Dude, don't let the "negative Nellies" get to you. You always seem to have a positive attitude. Keep it up!

I have had my Part 107 for over 2 years and started my own LLC to start making money. I agree you have pound the payment. Another avenue to take is join your local business association and start attending networking events. Networking has been the best pavement pounder for me. I try to keep jobs around 50 mile radius. For pricing the thing to remember is price your time accordingly. Remember it is YOUR TIME that is the valuable asset so don't sell yourself short and make sure you charge enough to cover the cost to put the drone in the air. Save flights everyone.

This is a sign! I was just telling my wife I wanted to go to the next level. I messaged Ken a couple days ago inquiring about how to get started on this path. Thanks for making this video Russ! I'm pretty sure you just pushed me over the edge.(In a good way) 😅

Russ, You have some great thoughts and words of encouragement for the newer people in the drone industry. I have my 107 and a couple of drones but am so busy with work I haven’t put the effort into building the business. Thanks for given the incentive I needed to get back in the right mindset. As a side note: A few years back when the Baaken Shale play started booming, I would come to North Dakota to work in the oil fields. I love the Scandinavian Heritage Center and Magic City. The winters were brutal on this Texan. I wish I had a drone back then. I would have loved to document the activity of the “Oil Boom,” just like the old spindle top days. No one can believe what all was going on.|

Thank you for this video! I was scheduled to take my Part 107 Exam as I watched this video and your suggestion to enroll in Drone Pilot Ground School saved me! I had been through the FAA provided study guide for the exam and thought I was ready to test but after seeing this video your suggestion to enroll in a study course convinced me otherwise. It was Memorial Day weekend and I was able to take advantage of their discounted enrollment offer too. I was about 3 or 4 modules into the course and could easily see at this point I would have bombed the test without this additional preparation so once again thank you for this advice! By the way I just received my Temporary Airman Certificate....woohoo!

We've made great money flying our drones as part of our video company. Get out there and practice and build a business

Russ, thanks for the encouragement. I have my Part 107, three drones, a portfolio on Instagram, business cards, and what I think are some pretty decent photo and video chops. I've done a few sparse jobs here and there, but really need to get out and beat the pavement, as you say. Thanks for the nudge. I love your channel.

Russ thank you for the video. The competition for starting a drone business where I live in Florida is off the charts. However I talked with some friends both in Ohio and Pennsylvania and it's fairly wide open. It's not easy and you need to lay the groundwork before you start pounding the pavement. Establishing your business as a LLC is a must. You need to take marketing to another degree with everything from logos to a social media presence to a website. You also need to have the right equipment including multiple batteries, a backup drone, multiple SD cards, and portable mass storage. It can be done but It's not for everyone.

I just ordered the Drone Pilot ground School course and saved $100. I like the format and the way it is presented.

I used the same course for my certification in 2016. They give lifetime access and I also used the course when I did my recertification. Great suggestion!