so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and honestly i feel pretty comfortable with the whole thing at this point. been doing some real estate shoots on the side for a buddy who does listings and he keeps telling me i should just go out on my own and start charging properly.

the thing is i dont really know how to find clients outside of like... people i already know. do people just cold call realtors? make a website? im not a marketing person at all, that side of it kind of intimidates me more than the actual flying does lol. been looking at some of the drone freelancing groups on facebook and everyone seems to either be absolutely killing it or completely struggling and i cant tell which is more realistic for someone starting out in a mid-size city.

also curious what rates people are actually charging for real estate work these days because ive heard everything from like $100 a shoot to $500+ and i have no idea what the going rate is in a normal market

the cold calling realtors thing actually works better than you'd think, or at least it did for me when i was starting. i just made a simple one page website, nothing fancy, and then spent a few weekends dropping off little flyers at real estate offices and following up with emails. got my first two paying clients that way. the key thing i learned pretty quick is that realtors talk to each other constantly so if you do good work for one of them word gets around faster than any advertising you could do.

on rates — in my area (midwest, mid size city similar to what you're describing) i was starting at like $175-200 for a basic residential package which included edited photos and one short video clip. that felt low in retrospect but it got me the portfolio. i'd say now after two years of this i charge $300-350 for standard packages and more if its a bigger property or they want twilight shots. some markets are definitely higher though, I have a friend in a bigger coastal city who charges double what i do for the same work.

the not being a marketing person thing — honestly same, but you kind of just figure it out as you go. its more about showing up consistently than being slick about it

im kind of in the same boat as you actually so ill be watching this thread. i did my 107 like eight months ago and have done maybe three paid gigs total, all through people i already knew. the jump to finding actual strangers to pay you feels weirdly hard even though the flying part is fine. good luck though, curious what you end up doing