so ive been flying for about two years now, mostly just recreational stuff, got my part 107 back in the spring and been sitting on it kind of waiting to see if anything happens. a buddy of mine says he does real estate shoots on weekends and makes decent side money but he's kind of vague about the numbers so i cant really tell if its worth the effort of actually setting up as a freelancer or whatever.

like i have a mavic 3 and i feel pretty comfortable with it at this point. i can get decent footage and my photos are clean. i just dont know if the market is already too saturated or if there's still room for someone to come in and build a small client base doing real estate and maybe events. has anyone actually made this work as a side hustle in the last year or two? or is it one of those things where the people who got in early are the ones making money and everyone else is just fighting over scraps

honest answer? it depends a lot on where you live. i do part time real estate work and in my area there's maybe 4 or 5 of us who actually show up consistently and the agents know our names now. took probably 8 months before i had anything resembling repeat clients. the money isnt life changing but its real - i clear somewhere between 800 and 1500 a month depending on the season and how motivated i am to market myself which honestly is the hard part. flying is easy. getting people to actually hire you and pay on time is the whole job.

if you already have the 107 and decent gear you're not starting from zero. i'd just say dont expect it to pop off in the first couple months.

events are tougher than real estate imo, at least to get started. venues want liability certs and sometimes waivers and the clients are usually less predictable than realtors. real estate agents are creatures of habit which is actually great once you get a few in your corner. i'd focus there first and then branch out once you have some cash flow and confidence.