so ive had my part 107 for about 8 months now and i honestly thought the work would just kind of... come? like i figured having the cert would open doors but its been pretty quiet. i do real estate photography on the side (stills, no drone) and thought adding aerial would be a natural add-on but the realtors i work with keep saying their budget is tight or they already have someone.

i've got a mini 4 pro and decent editing skills, i can turn around a clean video in a day or two. just not sure where to start breaking in. do people cold call? build a portfolio and just blast it on instagram? i saw some guys on here talking about platforms like dronebase or WorkMarket but i dont know if those are even worth signing up for or if they just take a huge cut and leave you with scraps.

any advice from people who actually made the transition to getting paid work would be really appreciated. even just knowing what worked for one person would help at this point

honestly the platform thing is kind of a mixed bag. i did dronebase for a while and yeah the cuts are rough but when youre starting out it gets you legit jobs with real clients and you build up a track record. did maybe 15-20 missions through them before i started getting direct referrals from people i met through those jobs. so i wouldnt dismiss it entirely — think of it like paying to learn on someone elses dime a little bit.

the real estate angle is smart though, you just gotta find the right agents. the budget-tight ones arent your people. look for the ones listing properties over like 400-500k in your area, those guys actually spend money on marketing. linkedin has been weirdly good for me for finding those contacts, better than instagram honestly.

im kind of in the same boat so following this thread. i did get one small job through a friend of a friend doing some footage for a landscaping company's website and it was only like $150 but it felt like a big deal at the time lol. i think just telling literally everyone you know that you do this is underrated — my neighbor ended up connecting me with someone who needed roof inspection footage for an insurance claim and that paid way better than expected