so ive been doing real estate shoots on weekends for about 8 months now, mostly for one agent who found me on facebook, and she keeps referring me to other agents in her office. its not huge money but last month i made just over $800 doing maybe 5 or 6 shoots and i still have my day job so it kind of just sits in my account.

anyway my coworker keeps telling me to just go full time with it and i dont know if thats actually realistic or if hes just saying that because he thinks it sounds cool. like i genuinely dont know what the path looks like from here. do people actually make a living wage doing this or is it mostly guys who already had a photography business and just added the drone on top

im part 107 certified since last spring if that matters. based in a mid size city not like rural nowhere but also not a major metro.

honestly the real estate angle is probably the most reliable entry point for freelance drone work, especially outside the big cities. the ceiling is kind of low though ? agents dont want to pay much and the market gets saturated fast once a few guys figure out they can do it cheap.

where i've seen people actually make it work full time is when they diversify. like real estate gets you steady small jobs but then you start building a reel and reaching out to construction companies for progress documentation, or local municipalities, or even just local businesses that want aerial B-roll for marketing. the $800 months can turn into $3-4k months if you're treating it like a proper business and not just waiting for referrals. but it takes a while and you really dont want to quit the day job until you have at least 6 months of consistent income from it. thats just my honest take from watching a few people in my local flying club try to make the jump.

im kind of in the same boat as you so i cant give advice but just wanted to say that 800 bucks for 5-6 shoots on the side is actually pretty solid. what are you charging per shoot if you dont mind me asking