so ive been flying for about 3 years now, got my part 107 about 18 months ago and been doing real estate shoots on weekends while working my regular desk job. lately ive been getting more inquiries and i had to turn down two gigs last month because i was traveling for work and it's just frustrating watching that money walk away.

my wife and i have been talking about whether i could actually go full time with this. not just real estate either, i've been doing some construction progress work and had one inquiry about cell tower inspection stuff which i never really looked into before. the income is definitely not consistent though and thats the part that scares me. some months are great, some months i'm waiting around for the phone to ring.

anyone here actually made the jump to freelance full time? like is it sustainable or do most people end up going back to a regular job eventually? genuinely curious how people are structuring this because i feel like i'm kind of flying blind here no pun intended

been doing it full time for going on 4 years now and honestly the biggest thing nobody tells you is that the flying is maybe 30% of the actual job. the rest is emails, invoicing, chasing down clients who dont pay on time, marketing yourself, keeping your certs up to date, all that stuff. if you hate the business side of things it gets old real fast.

that said the construction and inspection work you mentioned is where the real money is, real estate is competitive and the margins can be pretty thin depending on your market. i'd spend some time figuring out if you can get consistent contracts with a few commercial clients before you quit the day job. even one or two companies that call you regularly changes everything. the feast or famine thing is real but you can manage it with the right clients.

following this thread because im in almost the exact same spot lol. part 107 for about a year, doing weddings and some real estate on the side. would love to hear from people who've actually done it