so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and have been doing a handful of small jobs on the side — some real estate stuff, a few construction site progress shots, one wedding which i will never do again lol. anyway my day job is pretty soul crushing and ive been seriously thinking about whether i could make drone work my main thing.

the money on individual jobs feels decent when i get them but the problem is obviously getting them consistently. i talked to one guy at a fly-in last fall who said he cleared like 60k his first year going solo but honestly i dont know if thats realistic or if he was just having a good year or exaggerating. ive also seen people say the market is getting saturated with all the cheap drones now and clients lowballing because some teenager with a mavic will do it for 150 bucks.

has anyone actually made the jump and stuck with it? would love to hear what niches actually pay or if i should just keep it as a side thing and stop daydreaming

made the jump about three years ago and honestly its a mixed bag. the real estate market is brutal in most areas, youre right about the lowballers. where i started actually making decent consistent money was inspection work — cell towers, rooftops, that kind of thing. clients for that stuff actually care about the data and the report, not just getting the cheapest guy with a drone. you typically need to get comfortable with more specialized gear and sometimes additional certifications depending on what industry youre going into but the rates are way better and the work is more regular once you build relationships with a few companies.

the wedding thing — yeah, never again for me either. too much stress for what they pay and everyone has an opinion about every shot.

id say dont quit your day job cold turkey. try to line up some anchor clients first, even if its just one or two that give you recurring work, then make the jump when youre not completely starting from zero.

following this thread because im in almost exactly the same situation. part 107 for about 8 months, doing side stuff but wondering if theres actually a ceiling to what you can earn freelancing vs trying to get hired somewhere like a production company or an engineering firm that has drones in house. curious if anyone has gone that route instead of fully independent