been seeing ads for a couple of those drone pilot marketplace type platforms, the ones where clients post jobs and you apply or get matched or whatever. tried one of them for a few months and honestly wasnt super impressed but maybe i was doing something wrong or my market just isnt active enough on there.

the jobs that came through were almost all lowball stuff, like someone wanting a full real estate package for less than what id pay for gas to get there. i declined most of them and only took two gigs total in three months. is this just how these platforms work or did i pick a bad one? there seem to be a few of them now and I dont know if any are actually better than the others for finding decent paying clients.

the platform experience varies a lot by region from what ive seen. i had decent luck with one of them early on but the rates have gotten worse over time as more pilots signed up. the problem is the platforms kind of incentivize cheap bids to get volume on their end. most of the serious work ive gotten has come from just contacting local businesses directly or through word of mouth from other contractors honestly. the platforms arent useless but i wouldnt rely on them as your main pipeline, more like a supplement when things are slow.

yeah the low rates on those things are pretty frustrating. i think part of it is the clients using them dont really understand what goes into a professional shoot so they just see drone = cheap toy basically. had one guy message me asking if i could do a full commercial property shoot edited and delivered same day for like 75 dollars. i didnt even respond lol. the niche platforms for like inspection work or mapping seem a bit more reasonable from what friends have told me but ive not tried them personally