just curious about peoples timelines here. i see a lot of posts about getting part 107 and starting to pick up work but rarely does anyone talk about how long it took before they felt like it was genuinely their main thing and not just a hobby with occasional income. im not in a rush i have a day job that pays fine but its soul crushing and ive been thinking about this transition for a while now. flying is the one thing that doesnt feel like work to me which i know is what everyone says before it becomes work lol.

did any of you have a specific moment where you decided to go all in, or did it just kind of happen gradually. also wondering if there are paths in the industry that dont require you to be fully self employed ? like actual staff positions somewhere. seems like most of whats out there is contract or freelance but maybe im wrong.

took me about 18 months from getting my 107 to replacing my salary, but i want to be real about that ? i was putting in a lot of hours on the side before i quit, building a portfolio, doing some stuff basically for cost just to get footage i could show people. and my day job was flexible enough that i could take the occasional morning gig without it being a huge deal. the gradual approach worked for me but i know people who tried to jump straight in and struggled because they underestimated how long the sales cycle is, especially for commercial clients. they dont just hire you the week you email them.

on staff positions ? yes they exist. survey companies, utility companies, film production houses, some real estate brokerages now have in-house pilots. harder to find but they do post on linkedin if you set up alerts. the pay is usually lower than good freelance rates but you get stability which is worth something.

the soul crushing day job thing resonates way too much. im not fully transitioned yet either but one thing that helped me mentally was just accepting that the drone work probably wont feel as pure once you have to do it for income. thats not a reason not to do it, just something i had to make peace with. theres still days where im out on a good location early morning and it feels exactly like it used to. those days make the invoice chasing worth it i think.