so ive had my part 107 for about 8 months now and i honestly have no idea how to break into actual paid work. i shoot on weekends for fun mostly, got a mini 3 pro and recently picked up an air 3 for better image quality. my footage is decent i think, ive done a few free shoots for friends just to build a portfolio but nothing paid yet.

every time i look online it feels like everyone either already knows someone or they're doing real estate which i hear is super oversaturated. is that true? and what else is even out there that a newer pilot can realistically get into without years of experience. i dont want to lowball myself into oblivion either but i also know im not gonna land a major film production out of nowhere

any advice from people who actually made the jump would be really appreciated, even if its not glamorous work

honest answer — real estate IS saturated in a lot of markets but it depends where you are. i was doing about 4-6 real estate shoots a week at my peak just because i was the only part 107 guy in my county willing to do same day turnaround. geography matters a lot more than people think.

but what actually got me consistent work was going after construction companies. they need progress photos all the time and they dont care about cinematic anything, they just want clear documentation shots delivered reliably. once you do one site and dont screw anything up they tell their project manager buddies and it kind of snowballs. way less competition than real estate and they pay better in my experience. just show up when you say you will and deliver the files fast, thats like 80% of the job honestly

i literally just went through this same thing like 3 months ago lol. what finally worked for me was just posting in local facebook groups, not like advertising myself exactly but just commenting when someone asked about drone stuff and then eventually people started DMing me. got my first paid gig shooting a wedding venue for like $150 which is nothing but it got me a testimonial and some clips i could actually show people. its slow but it builds