so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and done a handful of paid gigs on the side ? mostly real estate stuff for a local agency and a couple of wedding things that honestly i could take or leave. but im at a point where my day job is just grinding me down and i keep thinking like... could this actually be a thing? like a real income thing?

i dont have unrealistic expectations i think, i know its not just flying around all day and cashing checks. but i genuinely dont know what the realistic ceiling looks like for someone who isnt in a major metro area. im in a mid-size town in the midwest, theres some agriculture around, a few construction companies, that kind of thing. anybody here actually made the jump to doing this full time or close to it? what did that actually look like for you in the early days

honestly the ag angle you mentioned is probably your best bet depending on where exactly you are. i know guys who basically locked down contracts with a couple of farms doing field mapping and crop scouting and that alone keeps them busy enough through the growing season. its not glamorous but its consistent work and farmers talk to each other so if you do good work word gets around fast.

the jump to full time is scary but i will say this ? i kept my day job for about eight months after i started taking it seriously and spent that time just building the client base. by the time i quit i already had enough recurring stuff that the first month wasnt a panic. thats probably the move if you can stomach the grind of doing both for a while. the people i saw crash out were the ones who quit first and figured out the business second.

im kind of in a similar spot as you so not sure i have great advice but following this thread for sure. one thing i heard is that construction progress documentation is pretty steady work if you can get in with a contractor or two since they need it ongoing not just once. havent cracked that market myself yet but it seems like a more reliable income stream than one-off real estate shoots