so ive been flying for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and ive been doing a few small jobs here and there for friends and a local real estate agent but nothing consistent. my day job is fine but honestly i think about drones constantly and i keep wondering if i could actually make this a thing.

the real estate stuff pays ok but its not like im getting rich off it — usually 150-200 a shoot which sounds decent until you factor in editing time and driving and the fact that it only comes up maybe twice a month if im lucky. ive been looking at other verticals like construction and cell tower inspection but i have no idea how to even get my foot in the door with those industries. do they just want you to cold call them or is it all word of mouth or what

also curious if anyone here actually made the jump to doing this full time and whether it was worth it or if you wish you hadnt. not looking for a sales pitch just honest answers

honest answer? the money is there but it took me about 18 months of grinding before i was comfortable calling it my main income. real estate will always be your bread and butter starting out but yeah the margins are thin once you actually sit down and track your hours properly. construction documentation is where i started finding better clients — the key for me was just showing up to job sites and talking to project managers directly, a lot of them have no idea what drone data can actually do for their workflow so you kind of have to show them before they even know they want it.

cold calling is rough but linkedin honestly worked better for me than i expected for reaching people in construction and infrastructure. also dont sleep on local networking events, i got two of my best ongoing contracts just from chatting with people at a chamber of commerce thing which i felt super weird about attending but whatever it worked

im kind of in the same boat as you so cant give much advice but just wanted to say the cell tower inspection stuff sounds intimidating to me — dont you need extra certifications for working around that kind of infrastructure? or is the 107 enough to get started