so ive been flying for about 3 years now, got my part 107 last spring and ive been doing a handful of side jobs here and there — mostly real estate stuff for a couple local agents who found me through a facebook group. the money is decent when it comes in but its super inconsistent and im starting to wonder if theres a path to doing this full time.

my day job is fine but its not exactly what i want to be doing forever and the drone work honestly feels more like actual work if that makes sense. like i care about getting the shots right. anyway i guess my question is — for people who made the jump to freelance full time, how long did it take before you were actually stable? and what kinds of jobs ended up being the bread and butter, because i assumed real estate would be it but ive heard construction and inspections pay way better

construction and inspections absolutely pay better, not even close. real estate is fine for getting started but the margins are brutal once you factor in your time driving out, shooting, editing, delivering. i did real estate for almost a year and a half before i started cold emailing local contractors and engineering firms and honestly that changed everything. the jobs are longer, the clients are less picky about cinematic stuff and more about coverage and documentation, and they tend to come back repeatedly. i now do progress shots for three different construction sites on a rotating basis and that alone covers most of my baseline expenses every month. took me about two years from part 107 to feeling genuinely stable though, not gonna sugarcoat it

im kind of in the same boat as you actually so watching this thread. i did one inspection job through a contact my brother in law had and the pay was way better than anything id done before for like half the time. havnt been able to find more of that kind of work though, feels like its all word of mouth