been picking up random jobs here and there for about a year, part 107 certified, decent gear (mini 3 pro and a mavic 3 classic). i live in a pretty small city, like maybe 80k people, not exactly a booming metropolis. theres some real estate work but the agents here are cheap and half of them still try to negotiate you down to like $75 for a full property shoot which is just insulting honestly.

ive started looking at other angles — events, maybe some agriculture stuff since theres a lot of farmland nearby, but i genuinely dont know how to market to farmers or if theres actually money there without a specialized sensor setup. anyone had luck finding steady work in smaller markets or is this kind of thing really only viable if youre in a bigger city?

not giving up or anything, just trying to figure out if i need to niche down harder or if i should be looking at this as strictly supplemental income where im at

agriculture is tricky without an NDVI or multispectral sensor setup, you're right about that. regular RGB stuff can still get you some work — scouting footage, field boundary mapping, irrigation issue spotting — but the serious ag clients who are paying real money usually want the data not just the video. that said if you can find a local agronomist or farm bureau contact and just have a conversation you might be surprised. some smaller operations dont even know what drone services exist yet so you're not competing with anyone, you're just educating.

small markets are tough for sure but i think people undersell the events angle. real estate agents are a race to the bottom everywhere it seems like. weddings, local motorsports, high school athletics if your area has those — that stuff can fill gaps and the clients are usually less price-sensitive than realtors.

$75 for a property shoot lol i would have laughed and walked out. you're not wrong that small markets are harder but ive heard of guys doing really well targeting a specific industry rather than being a generalist. like one dude i know in a rural area basically cornered the local insurance inspection market and now thats 70% of his work. took him a while to get there but now he barely has to market at all, they just call him