so ive been flying for about two years now and just got my part 107 last spring and honestly i wasnt expecting much to come of it right away but a local real estate agency reached out after seeing some footage i posted and now theyre asking me to shoot listings regularly. like a proper ongoing thing not just a one-off.

the problem is i have no idea how to structure this. do i just invoice them after each job? do i set up an LLC or is that overkill at this point? a friend told me to get a contract in place before i do anything else which sounds right but i dont even know what should be in it. i dont want to come across as unprofessional but i also dont want to sink hours into business admin stuff when im not even sure this is going to be sustainable long term.

anyone here gone through something similar when you were just starting out with paid work? would love to know what you wish someone had told you earlier.

congrats on landing a recurring client that early, real estate is honestly one of the more stable entry points for this kind of work. the contract thing your friend mentioned is absolutely right, get something in writing before you shoot a single frame for them professionally. even a basic service agreement covers you if they suddenly decide they dont want to pay or dispute the deliverables.

for the LLC question -- i held off on that for almost a year and in hindsight it wasnt the worst call. if youre in the US, a single-member LLC is pretty cheap and easy to set up depending on your state but it does add some bookkeeping overhead. a lot of solo operators just start as a sole proprietor and move to LLC once the income justifies it. the bigger thing honestly is just tracking your expenses from day one because the deductions add up and youll thank yourself at tax time. drone gear, insurance, software subscriptions, mileage, all of it.

also make sure your hull insurance is solid before you do any commercial work regularly. some clients in real estate will actually ask for a certificate of insurance before they'll work with you.

im kind of in the same boat so following this thread. i did one paid shoot for a friend of a friend and just had them venmo me which felt weird and i know thats probably not the right way to do it lol. wave or freshbooks for invoicing seems to be what a lot of people use from what ive seen