so ive been flying for about two years now, mostly just weekends and the occasional favor for a friend who does real estate photography. got my part 107 last spring and ive been kind of sitting on it wondering if theres actually a path here or if im just romanticizing the whole thing.

my day job is fine but its not exactly exciting and i keep thinking about what it would take to just... do the drone thing full time. i know real estate is the obvious entry point but i also hear its super saturated now and margins are getting squeezed. has anyone actually made the jump? like not just side income but actual replace-your-salary income? curious what niches people have found that actually pay decently.

yeah i made the jump about three years ago and honestly its doable but it took way longer than i expected to get to a comfortable income. real estate is saturated for sure, especially the low end stuff where guys are charging like 150 bucks for a full package ? you cant compete with that and make it worth your time.

what actually moved the needle for me was getting into construction progress documentation and cell tower inspections. the cell tower work especially, theres training involved and you need to be comfortable with specific software but the day rates are genuinely good. also roofing inspections for insurance adjusters, that kind of work doesnt sound glamorous but it pays consistently and theres actual demand. the wedding and event stuff i dropped pretty fast, too much client hand-holding for what they pay.

following this because im kind of in the same spot. just passed my 107 a few months ago and trying to figure out where to even start. did you find that having a portfolio mattered a lot when you were first approaching clients or did people mostly care about the cert and insurance?