so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and have been doing a few small gigs here and there ? mostly real estate stuff for a local agency and a couple of construction progress shoots. its been going well enough that im starting to wonder if i could actually do this full time instead of my current desk job.

the thing is i have no idea what the realistic income potential looks like. like i see people online claiming they make six figures doing drone work but that feels like the exception not the rule. my real estate jobs pay decent per shoot but theres no consistency, sometimes i get three calls a week sometimes nothing for two weeks.

anyone here actually made the jump to full time? what sectors ended up being your bread and butter? im thinking real estate plus maybe some roof inspections but honestly open to anything. also wondering if i need more certs or if the 107 is enough to get started properly.

yeah i made the jump about three years ago and honestly the first year was rough. real estate is great for volume but the margins are thin and youre at the mercy of the housing market. what really stabilized things for me was getting into infrastructure inspection ? cell towers, bridges, that kind of thing. pays way better per day and clients are usually companies with actual budgets not just a realtor trying to squeeze every penny.

the 107 is fine to start but if you want the inspection work youll probably want to look at thermal certification or at least get comfortable with a thermal payload because thats where a lot of the higher value contracts are. took me a while to figure that out. the other thing nobody tells you is that like 40% of your time ends up being emails and invoices and chasing payments, its not all flying.

im kind of in the same boat as you actually so following this thread. i did one wedding shoot last month and the client loved it but i have no clue how to find consistent work. does anyone use those marketplace platforms like Dronebase or whatever its called now or is that not really worth it