so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and been doing a handful of gigs here and there for some local real estate agents and one construction company that found me through a facebook group. nothing crazy but its been enough to make me think maybe i could actually do this more seriously.

the thing is im still working my day job (office stuff, nothing related) and im kind of scared to just jump into freelancing full time without knowing if theres actually enough work out there. like is the market saturated? feels like everyone and their cousin has a drone now. but also the guys im working with seem to keep coming back so maybe im overthinking it.

anyone here actually freelancing as their main income? curious what niches you found most consistent — real estate feels volatile to me since it depends on how the housing market is doing. heard inspection work pays better but harder to break into without specific certs or experience

yeah real estate is honestly feast or famine depending on where you live and whats happening with interest rates. ive been full time for going on four years now and i diversified pretty early — real estate, cell tower inspections (you need to get comfy with the paperwork and some clients want specific equipment), and i picked up a contract doing periodic roof surveys for a property management company which is like guaranteed recurring income every quarter. that last one was the game changer honestly.

the saturation thing is real but its also kind of overblown imo. yeah theres a million guys with mavics but most of them arent reliable, dont deliver edited footage on time, dont communicate well, dont have proper insurance. if you just do the basics right you stand out more than you'd think. the bar is weirdly low in some markets.

dont quit your day job immediately tho. grind the side work until it's consistently replacing like 60-70% of your salary, then think about it. took me about 18 months of overlap before i felt okay making the jump

im kind of in the same boat as you actually so following this thread. i got my 107 in january and ive done maybe 3 paid gigs. inspection work is something i keep hearing about but every job posting i see wants like 2 years of inspection experience which is such a catch 22 lol