so ive been flying for about two years now mostly just for fun, weddings for friends and some real estate stuff i did basically for free to build a portfolio. people keep telling me i should charge for this and honestly the footage ive been getting lately is pretty solid. i have my part 107 already which i got last spring.

my question is kind of all over the place sorry ? like do i need to form an LLC right away or can i just start taking jobs and sort the business stuff out later? and insurance, someone told me rotor riot or no wait is it Verifly that does per-flight coverage? is that actually legit for client work or do i need a full annual policy. i dont even know what to charge, ive seen everything from $150 to $800 for a basic real estate shoot and thats a huge range. how do you figure out what the market will bear in your area

also just generally like how did you guys get your first actual paying clients, not friends and family but real strangers who found you somehow

ok so i went through basically this exact thing about 18 months ago and here's what i'd tell myself if i could go back. do the LLC first, like before you take any money. it's not expensive, in most states you can do it yourself online for under $100 and it just protects you if something goes sideways on a job. the liability exposure doing real estate or events without any business structure is just not worth it.

on insurance ? Verifly is fine for like one-off hobbyist stuff but if you're doing this regularly clients will often ask for a certificate of insurance and Verifly can't really provide that in the same way. i use a Thimble annual policy now, it runs me around $600 a year i think, and i can add clients as additionally insured on a job which is what bigger real estate companies will require before they hire you.

for pricing, honestly just look at what other operators in your metro area are charging and don't undercut them. you undercut everyone you drag the whole local market down and then nobody wins. i started at $350 for a standard real estate package, exterior only, and now i'm at $475 and nobody has blinked.

the client thing is what stumped me forever too. for me it finally clicked when i just started reaching out directly to real estate agents on instagram, not with some spammy pitch just like genuinely engaging with their posts and then eventually mentioning what i do. got my first three paying clients that way. also google business profile is underrated, took me like an hour to set up and i get maybe one inquiry a month from it now which adds up