so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and honestly i still dont fully understand how the professional side of this works. like i see people posting on instagram saying they do drone photography full time but i cant figure out how you actually get there from where i am.

right now i do a few real estate shoots here and there, maybe one or two a month, and its nice supplemental income but nowhere near enough to do this seriously. i reached out to a couple local agencies but they either want someone with a huge portfolio or they just never replied. is this normal? do most people freelance their way into it or is there some other path im missing

also curious if the mapping/surveying side is worth looking into because ive heard it pays better but i have no idea what kind of equipment or training you'd need

the real estate thing is kind of a grind to build up yeah, most people i know who are doing it full time spent like two or three years doing exactly what you're doing before it clicked. the trick i found was stop waiting for agencies and just go directly to realtors, like individual agents not the whole brokerage. they have their own marketing budgets and they make decisions faster.

on the mapping side - honestly yes it pays better but the barrier to entry is higher too. you're looking at getting familiar with software like Pix4D or DroneDeploy, and clients in that space (construction, land surveying firms, agriculture) want to see that you know what you're doing before they trust you with a job site. it took me a while to get my first mapping contract but now thats most of my income. worth the learning curve if you're patient.

im kind of in the same boat as you so i dont have a ton of advice but i did start doing weddings and events on weekends and that helped me build the portfolio faster than real estate was. people seem more willing to take a chance on someone newer for personal stuff vs commercial clients