so ive been flying for about two years now mostly just as a hobby, got my part 107 last spring and kind of just let it sit there. a friend of mine asked if id do some real estate shots for his listings and paid me like $150 for maybe an hour of work including editing and i was like... wait people actually pay for this?

anyway now im wondering if theres actually a path here or if everyone and their cousin already has a drone and the market is totally saturated. i live in a mid-sized city, nothing huge but theres a lot of construction going on and some commercial real estate stuff. dont really know where to start to be honest, like do you just cold call companies? make a website? reach out to realtors directly? ive looked at some of the drone job platforms but they seem kind of hit or miss from what i can tell

not trying to quit my day job or anything just wondering if this could be a few hundred extra dollars a month or if its more work than its worth to build up clients

honest answer — it depends a lot on where you live and how much hustle you're willing to put in. i went part time about three years ago and it took almost a full year before i had enough steady clients that it felt like actual income and not just random gigs. real estate is a good entry point because the turnaround expectation is fast and realtors talk to each other, so if you do good work word gets around pretty quick. the drone platforms like Dronebase or Jobber can get you started but the margins are pretty thin because they take a cut and you're competing on price with everyone else. direct relationships with realtors or construction companies is where the real money starts to come in once you build a portfolio. $150 for an hour sounds low but honestly for when you're just starting out its fine, just dont undersell yourself forever

im kind of in the same boat as you so not much advice to offer but following this thread because i just got my 107 in january and have been wondering the same stuff. the real estate angle makes sense to me, theres a ton of new builds going up near where i live. curious if anyone knows whether you need extra insurance beyond the standard stuff when you start charging people