Anyone making money with their drone?

[Aerodrone1]

So, I ordered my my drone with extra batteries and everything I thought I'd need to make money shooting real estate and other aerial photo work. Got the Part 107 certification so I could be legal. I've talked to a number of real estate agents and offered to do some free work to get my name out there but I can't get any takers. So I've invested $1200 bucks in the drone and have yet to earn a dime. I've even given thought to selling it to recoup my investment. Any of you guys making money?

 

[4everaerial]

Try dronebase.com. You definitely won't get rich but you might recoup some of your equipment cost flying panoramic missions. I can confirm they pay out.....

 

[PRMath]

So, I ordered my my drone with extra batteries and everything I thought I'd need to make money shooting real estate and other aerial photo work. Got the Part 107 certification so I could be legal. I've talked to a number of real estate agents and offered to do some free work to get my name out there but I can't get any takers. So I've invested $1200 bucks in the drone and have yet to earn a dime. I've even given thought to selling it to recoup my investment. Any of you guys making money?

Well, Hell........ then go have fun flying your drone. Might find making $$$$$$$ is not That big a deal. When I was smoking chickens for friends at work, I enjoyed it. But as soon as word spread and $$$$$$ came into the equation......
Fun be gone ‍

 

[WildDoktor]

Simply put: Nobody's going to hand this business to you. If you want to make money with your drone, you're going to have to work your butt off getting prepared.

Some suggestions (from my experience so far), kind of a Business 101 crib sheet:

• Don't worry about the $$$ yet...just start flying! Get hours and hours of video of your own house. Experiment with camera settings, filters, times of the day. Get good at post production; that's 85% of the workload. Spin up your youtube channel, figure out how to most efficiently upload videos.
• Research what makes agents want aerial footage. If you can't get a real estate agent to want drone photos and videos to help sell properties, then you're not presenting it correctly. Do tons of research about what benefits an agent will get by adding aerial data to their listing, and then how to present those benefits to the agents.
• Build a customer relationship workflow. You're going to need to know how to follow up with an agent once they say "yes". How are you going to bill them? How are you going to deliver the data? And 50 other questions will need to be thought of as well.
• Hire other people to do the things you can't or won't or hate to do: accounting, billing, taxes, appointment setting, etc. etc. etc. Otherwise, those things won't get done. Or you'll do them poorly and hate the results.

So yeah...it's not simple. It's *work*. But it can be fun, as well.

 

[brian bwin]

I've paid off the drone and some on top at this point. Probably looking at 6-10 paid gigs a year unless something changes with customer/client demand. And that's starting with an established video business. You've got people charging $50 on craigslist or, in our case, many of our school clients are just doing it themselves or going through whatever ad/marketing agency they use.

The aerial real estate market just doesn't seem like it is there (in our area anyway) and I'd imagine with the low cost of entry most real estate offices will be keeping it in-house in the future or paying chump change to dronebase or other contracting services.

Don't get me wrong, I am not aggressively pursuing drone work so it's possible there is more out there than I think. Lots of advice out there on marketing yourself and your business if you choose to keep pursing it. Or just fly for fun, build your portfolio and experience, and count any paid work as a nice bonus on top

 

[Aerodrone1]

Simply put: Nobody's going to hand this business to you. If you want to make money with your drone, you're going to have to work your butt off getting prepared.

Some suggestions (from my experience so far), kind of a Business 101 crib sheet:

• Don't worry about the $$$ yet...just start flying! Get hours and hours of video of your own house. Experiment with camera settings, filters, times of the day. Get good at post production; that's 85% of the workload. Spin up your youtube channel, figure out how to most efficiently upload videos.
• Research what makes agents want aerial footage. If you can't get a real estate agent to want drone photos and videos to help sell properties, then you're not presenting it correctly. Do tons of research about what benefits an agent will get by adding aerial data to their listing, and then how to present those benefits to the agents.
• Build a customer relationship workflow. You're going to need to know how to follow up with an agent once they say "yes". How are you going to bill them? How are you going to deliver the data? And 50 other questions will need to be thought of as well.
• Hire other people to do the things you can't or won't or hate to do: accounting, billing, taxes, appointment setting, etc. etc. etc. Otherwise, those things won't get done. Or you'll do them poorly and hate the results.

So yeah...it's not simple. It's *work*. But it can be fun, as well.

I never expected anyone to hand my anything. I'm just saying so far I'm having little luck even if I offer the service at no charge. I'm developing a web site that will have footage on it.

 

[WildDoktor]

I never expected anyone to hand my anything. I'm just saying so far I'm having little luck even if I offer the service at no charge. I'm developing a web site that will have footage on it.

My apologies Aerodrone1; I didn't mean to sound condescending, or like a jerk. We're all adults here and should be encouraging each other, that was my actual intent.
To answer your question, yes, I'm making money with my drone (finally!). It took a lot of pre-work...research, practice, back-office type stuff. Thankfully, the agents I've talked to so far are already convinced that drone photography for real estate is a differentiator: it makes the listings look better, makes the agent look like they are on the leading edge, and makes the home sell faster and for more money. I suppose if I come across one that doesn't think that way I'll move on quickly to the next one. There are *plenty* of agents in my small city...probably in yours as well!

With a list of facts researched and memorized, your presentation polished, your back office in order, go out and find some "modern" agents...you'll have a much better chance!

 

[Aerodrone1]

My apologies Aerodrone1; I didn't mean to sound condescending, or like a jerk. We're all adults here and should be encouraging each other, that was my actual intent.
To answer your question, yes, I'm making money with my drone (finally!). It took a lot of pre-work...research, practice, back-office type stuff. Thankfully, the agents I've talked to so far are already convinced that drone photography for real estate is a differentiator: it makes the listings look better, makes the agent look like they are on the leading edge, and makes the home sell faster and for more money. I suppose if I come across one that doesn't think that way I'll move on quickly to the next one. There are *plenty* of agents in my small city...probably in yours as well!

With a list of facts researched and memorized, your presentation polished, your back office in order, go out and find some "modern" agents...you'll have a much better chance!

Thanks for the input and advice. I guess I need to renew my efforts at trying to build a drone photography business. I suppose I'd become a bit discouraged with meeting dead end after dead end.

 

[Aerodrone1]

Well, Hell........ then go have fun flying your drone. Might find making $$$$$$$ is not That big a deal. When I was smoking chickens for friends at work, I enjoyed it. But as soon as word spread and $$$$$$ came into the equation......
Fun be gone ‍

Hey PRMath, where in NW Florida are you? I'm in south west GA.

 

[PRMath]

Hey PRMath, where in NW Florida are you? I'm in south west GA.

Milton....... about 20 miles east Pensacola

 

[Delta Blue]

Many good points given here. Remember that the drone industry is in its infancy. Wife and I went to the Parade of Homes Tour where we live some weeks ago and I left my business card to some real estate reps. None of them even seemed to know what drone aerial video and photography was. In some areas of the country it seems very popular, but not this one, yet. The advice to go out and get as much experience as possible is what I agree with. We can learn many things that way in preparation for some paid work. One does not have to work for another party to get some great artistic photography which can be sold by one's self.

I became a listed professional drone pilot on the droners.io website a couple weeks ago and I already had a potential client using it request I bid on his real estate job. Unfortunately I had to decline because I would be out of town that day. That was encouraging, and the jobs board on droners gets maybe a half dozen new jobs throughout the country each day which is exciting. I have bid on a couple locally, but every few days I will see a new job that is close enough to bid on. The infrastructure is building up for drone jobs. Be patient but keep busy. Remember that you who have the certification will be the lucky one who can get a job. Lots of these people needing drone work who give you the bid will hire you again when they need more work done.

 

[TAMU1996]

I finally got compensated (at a well-discounted price ) for a recent job with a local realtor. I had done one free aerial & interior walk-through of a residential property for her, just to get something out there, and she was gracious enough to let me work another project.

Funny thing.... the paying gig (property is a 5-acre wooded plot) didn't even allow me use of my drone. The property is within 1/2 mile of the lateral boundary of a Class B airport. I ended up using a combination of Google Earth, screen capture software, existing land surveys and my cell phone gimbal (mounted on a 15-foot pole) to put together a 2:30 video.

The realtor loved it, as does the seller. I only asked that she keep me in mind for future jobs and to remember me if those in her agency need similar work. I'm relying (for now) on word-of-mouth since, like Delta Blue, leaving my business cards at local offices garnered no interest.

Even with a head full of ideas, I'm discovering that a certain amount of free work may be needed to build a portfolio of videos/photos. I can tell someone "I can do it" all day long, but what do I have to show them as examples of my work? I'm still working on that portfolio, but I'm happy to say it's growing.

I know there's work out there (Houston is a huge market) and that building a client base will be slow, but discipline and dedication usually pay off in the long-run. Hope springs eternal.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Hope you it works out for you, it is a tough go for sure.
Trouble is every Tom, Dick and Harry has their Part 107 now that makes even harder to get ahead.

 

[Aerodrone1]

Hope you it works out for you, it is a tough go for sure.
Trouble is every Tom, Dick and Harry has their Part 107 now that makes even harder to get ahead.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and at least one Steve! Maybe those other guys are getting my jobs.

 

[Old Bama Dude]

My drone's been costing me money, having to pay to get it out of trees.

 

[Aerodrone1]

My drone's been costing me money, having to pay to get it out of trees.

At least mine fell to the ground but it still cost money to get it repaired. So technically I'm $1400 in the hole. Somehow I thought I could actually MAKE money with it.

 

[4everaerial]

I have booked my first two real estate jobs after a month of reaching out to brokers. Keep trying. Both of these clients said no at first but came back later on with requests. Target brokers that list high end properties such as waterfront homes or commercial properties.

 

[sfctmurdock152]

Simply put: Nobody's going to hand this business to you. If you want to make money with your drone, you're going to have to work your butt off getting prepared.

Some suggestions (from my experience so far), kind of a Business 101 crib sheet:

• Don't worry about the $$$ yet...just start flying! Get hours and hours of video of your own house. Experiment with camera settings, filters, times of the day. Get good at post production; that's 85% of the workload. Spin up your youtube channel, figure out how to most efficiently upload videos.
• Research what makes agents want aerial footage. If you can't get a real estate agent to want drone photos and videos to help sell properties, then you're not presenting it correctly. Do tons of research about what benefits an agent will get by adding aerial data to their listing, and then how to present those benefits to the agents.
• Build a customer relationship workflow. You're going to need to know how to follow up with an agent once they say "yes". How are you going to bill them? How are you going to deliver the data? And 50 other questions will need to be thought of as well.
• Hire other people to do the things you can't or won't or hate to do: accounting, billing, taxes, appointment setting, etc. etc. etc. Otherwise, those things won't get done. Or you'll do them poorly and hate the results.

So yeah...it's not simple. It's *work*. But it can be fun, as well.

well said that is how i am running my drone business i enjoy this job very much im semi retired at the young age of 61 love my drones.