so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and been doing a handful of small jobs here and there - mostly real estate shoots for a local agency that pays like $150 a pop. nothing crazy but it covers some gear costs.

lately ive been seriously thinking about whether i could actually do this full time or at least make it a solid side income. i work a desk job right now and honestly the drone stuff is the only part of my week i actually enjoy. but every time i look into it i get kind of discouraged because theres SO many people with drones now and it feels like the market is getting saturated, you know?

has anyone here actually made the jump to doing this professionally? like not just weekend gigs but actual consistent freelance work or even a full time position somewhere? curious what the realistic picture looks like because i cant tell if the people saying its viable are just trying to sell courses lol

honestly the saturation thing is real but its also kind of overstated depending on what niche you go after. real estate is crowded yeah, everyone with a mini 3 thinks they can do it. but stuff like construction progress documentation, infrastructure inspection, agricultural work - thats where the actual money is and most weekend hobbyists dont want to deal with the learning curve or the liability side of things.

i went full time about 18 months ago after about 3 years of part time work. the first 6 months were genuinely stressful, i wont lie. but once i built up a few recurring clients in the construction sector it got a lot more stable. the key for me was not trying to compete on price with the race to the bottom crowd and instead positioning around reliability and deliverables - like clients who need weekly site photos dont care if you charge a bit more, they care that you show up and the files are usable.

i still do some real estate on the side because it fills gaps but i dont rely on it. if youre serious id say start building relationships in one specific vertical before you think about quitting the day job

im kind of in the same boat as you so take this with a grain of salt but i joined a couple of drone pilot networks like DroneBase and Zeitview just to get a feel for what gigs are out there and honestly it was eye opening. the pay per mission stuff isnt gonna replace a salary but it showed me what types of work are actually in demand in my area. cell tower inspections kept coming up and apparently thats a pretty specialized skill set that pays decently if you get into it. just something ive been looking into