so i got my part 107 about 8 months ago thinking i'd easily start picking up jobs and making decent money... turns out its not that simple lol. ive done maybe 15 gigs through dronebase and some local real estate stuff but im barely breaking even after gas and equipment costs. seeing all these success stories online but wondering if thats just survivorship bias? like maybe the people struggling just dont post about it as much

dont get me wrong i love flying and the work itself is great when i can get it, but the inconsistent income is stressing me out. one week ill have 3 jobs lined up and feel like im onto something, then nothing for two weeks. anyone else going through this or am i just doing something wrong

dude this hits hard, going through the exact same thing. been at it for about a year and some months are great while others are completely dead. what helped me was diversifying - started doing roof inspections for insurance companies and that's been more steady than real estate. also had to get better at marketing myself instead of just relying on the platforms

the feast or famine cycle is real though, just started putting away money from good months to cover the slow ones. still figuring it out tbh but at least were not alone in this

Yeah this is pretty normal unfortunately. Most pilots I know who are doing well took 2-3 years to really get established and build a solid client base. The online success stories usually dont mention that part... or the fact that a lot of those six figure guys are working 60+ hour weeks traveling all over the country

Have you tried reaching out to construction companies directly? Thats where i found my most consistent work. Skip the middleman platforms when you can, they take a huge cut anyway