S4/EP 3 James Grace of JMG Aerial Imagery

Cody Retlich is founder of Midwest Aerial Productions. David: “Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got into drones?” Cody is from Wisconsin and went to school for entrepreneurship and professional sales, so he knew he wanted to run his own business. He’d always take the leadership role and knew he wanted to have the freedom to work the way he wanted. His interest in drones started when a friend developed software for agricultural use of drones. Cody helped him figure out what markets there were. After selling $3.5 million for a company that he didn't enjoy working for, Cody decided it was time to work for himself so he began to build his drone business, doing flights here and there, while driving Uber and golf caddying for almost a year and a half. He “officially” started Midwest Aerial Productions in 2018. David: “When you quit your job to do your own thing, did you know you were going to start a drone business or did you just need to do something else and you found drones after that?” Cody knew from the get-go that there was a huge market for drones—they would have a great of impact. He’d bought a drone a few years before he quit his job and took flying jobs here and there, mostly for real estate and private properties. David: “Talk us through your first drone and your first paying drone client—even as a side thing.” The first drone Cody flew was the Phantom 2. The first year, he picked up whatever jobs he could in the area. Then something tragic happened in his life that took him away from the business for a while. When he returned, he pivoted his company to not only providing services in the area, but working and collaborating with pilots all across the Midwest; he began helping other drone pilots start their business  and offering advice.  Now, Midwest Aerial brokers pilots all across the Midwest. David: “You said you picked up a few real estate clients on the side... how did those people find you? Were you posting things on social media and people saw it or were you pretty active in your area?” Because Cody had a sales background, he was going to a lot of different networking events around the city and talking to and cold calling realtors all that time. “In the beginning, you gotta get yourself out there. If you don't have any content or clients, the best thing to do is go shoot some stuff in your area. Find someone you know has a nice house or property and ask if you can shoot it for them. Talk to everybody and anybody and just learn what they know or who they know—it’s an experience of connection.” Cody just got accepted into an accelerator program and the woman that told him to apply for it, Cody met driving Lyft one night two years ago. The program is a 7-week intensive program, offering a lot of resources, investors, and pitch nights. David agreed it’s important for listeners to understand how important it is to make finding the right relationships with the right people a habit and practice. Cody says he has to weigh the benefits of doing certain jobs with certain people—sometimes $200 job could be a headache and you do it now but then you know you’re not going to work with that client again. David: “So you were doing side things from people calling you up, were most of those real estate jobs, taking pictures, video or what?” Cody says it was all over the place—some cinematography, some travel, events, real estate and construction with 3D mapping and some orthomosaics. He used thermal drones for core inspections, finding leaks etc. Right now, he keep building technology into their site. There are a lot of people flying a Mavic for real estate jobs who may be undercutting the value of your services so you need to get a broker’s whole office rather than just one broker. Go to the commercial side and find people in your area that want a drone partner. David: “As we talk to people, it seems like there's a bit of a hierarchy—people start off with real estate videos and photos and then find a construction niche. I'm interested to hear about some examples of construction projects you did. What are those clients looking for? How are they using products that you're giving them?” Cody says he’d do a time lapse, going to the construction site once a week to film. He’d put together a highlight reel from groundbreaking till the end and really show it off. Then, naturally, the architects get a visual image of what that property's going to look like from their renderings. “People want to see marketing that shows off their projects, but you can also give them stuff to make them more efficient and more effective at the job site by monitoring points of data.” Also, when they initially map out jobs, they’ve had surveyors on the ground doing these types of things and now obviously you can do surveying. They can use the data from these maps to make sure that they're all on a point and keeping that accuracy level throughout the process. David: “I know pricing is different everywhere in the country, but if someone hires you to do a construction job, where you're taking photos once a week for a project, how would you typically price that out?” At first, it’s not about what you charge, but the value you bring. Right now, Cody says, he mostly sticks to $100-$200 an hour. For a raw data flight, they'll charge them an hourly which they calculate into the proposal, which also contains the total project broken down by editing, planning, shooting, exporting, etc. Often, if a broker is selling 10 homes per month, they put Midwest Aerial on a monthly package of drone videography or photography, which creates great recurring revenue of $1,500-$2,000/month. This also provides that long-term relationship.   David: “Are there other kind of interesting industries that you've done jobs for that aren't necessarily as difficult or outside of the construction real estate world?” Cody has been going after travel jobs because he loves traveling. He connected on Instagram to someone advertising some drone work for a golf course in Fiji and he’s filming a golf course in Cozumel in a month. For the Fiji trip, he connected on social media via DM and asked if he could come visit, play their course and trade some rounds for a few aerial photos. When they saw his online work, they agreed and then he could also pitch for some paid work. For those just starting out, Cody suggested letting the client know what you’re aiming to create for them—the kind of vision that you’re going for and take it from there. He says be honest about what you’ve done and tell them what you’d like to do. David: “It sounds like you've got some cool stuff going on with the accelerator program that you're in and expanding beyond drone work to build your company. Tell us about the vision you’re building now.” We’re still in the development stages but we’ve pivoted for sure. “You gotta prove it, you gotta be able to figure out what you're passionate about and what to do to be able to ultimately help you more in the long-term.” After that first year they began interacting with pilots and looking at what services are most needed around the Midwest. They're building a new website with profiles of pilots to be able to help them grow their businesses but also to be able to book services. There are a lot of companies out there that don't put the pilots first and that's what Cody wants to do. David: “Everybody always wants to know how much they can expect to make from this? When you were focused on your drone service business full time, what would be a low month and ...

27 Maj 202049min

Jeremiah Oschwald owns and operates Beardhouse Media, a real estate marketing business, and Overland Pioneers, an outdoor lifestyle marketing business. David: “Why don't you tell us who you are and what your company is? How did you get into real estate marketing? When did you first mess around with drones?” Jeremiah has been in the real estate marketing business for 4 ½ years, drones for about 3 ½ yrs. There was a big boom in drone popularity but there weren't a lot of people licensed. Jeremiah took the DLA Part 107 class, saying it was great for him because he’s a visual learner. He began Overland Pioneers out of a desire to do more with his life than 5-7real estate listings a day 7 days a week.  He wanted to see and film things and get paid to travel. He started with wanting to help small businesses and began going to restaurants and shooting seven small short social media videos that they could post on Facebook. Then, he shot the parents’ house of a friend—Josh Shepherd with the Kentucky Life Real Estate Property Management (see link below)—who later introduced him to team leaders of a large Keller Williams office in Lexington. Jeremiah was invited to talk in front of their monthly sales meeting of 65 or 70 agents. He was terrified but went in having done some research on real estate videos and knowing he needed to build a case. 15 or 20 people came up to let him know they had a listing coming up and would like to use him so he instantly got a lot of clients. Jeremiah feels he lucked out because Lexington was an underserved population in central Kentucky with 3000 agents in one MLS area. He started packaging the videos and, last year, he did over a hundred videos for agents, auctioneers and car dealers. In order to figure out what to charge for real estate walkthrough videos, Jeremiah felt that what people described was too complex—even after hearing a long explanation, he still didn't know what they were charging. They’d say they charged $3,000 to $4,000 per listing but were only getting listings 2-3 times/month—with drones being a very small portion of that. So Jeremiah decided to go to a flat rate system...he says agents use him on every listing. “I don't care if it’s an 1100 square foot house or 6,000 square foot house--it's $125 for just the walkthrough video, if I add the drone, it’s $200.” These are homes that are going to be sold within 24 to 48 hours, and the videos are 50% of their selling package. Jeremiah says that by doing professional photography AND video, they will definitely hire him because he’s a better marketing and listing presentation tool for them. David: “Can you talk about managing client's expectations? How many jobs are you doing per week during your slow and busy seasons?” Here is the past week’s schedule, as an example: Monday: one re-shoot for a new agent. Tuesday: five cabins about 40 miles from Lexington. Wednesday: three local shoots. Thursday: it was raining outside so the job was cancelled. Friday: one auction video. He’s averaging three per day / 12-15 per week--weather permitting in the busy season. Even though that's a typical day, many times, it’s very dependent on weather;  there are always reschedules. David: “Would you be comfortable giving us a range of business income for 2019?” Beardhouse Media made over six figures, 40% of that was drone work. “Even when I discount work, I make more money because beforehand they wouldn't have used drones at all. I have relationships with people I actually WANT to work with; one of the biggest rewards for me is when someone calls and I can say I don't have time.” David: “Tell me about Overland Pioneers—what it is and how it came about.” Overland Pioneers is vehicle-based adventure travel. Overlanding is when the travel is the goal, the destination is getting there, i.e. cruising through trails and camping. They got a trailer from Xventure Trailers and went to Prince Edward Island, driving all over Nova Scotia for three weeks. Then they put a series on YouTube showing all the beautiful places. David: “Are you doing Overland Pioneer to work with certain brands and travel for free? Do you end up taking home money on top of that or is it just a side fun hobby?” For Jeremiah, the goal was to replace income that would be made if he were at home, but then also being able to see the world during the warmer months. Last year was close to 70 days of travel; the Overland community is awesome for networking and jobs. David: “Are you starting to shift away from real estate and doing more commercial video work for content marketing with different companies?” Jeremiah says he’ll always keep the real estate because he enjoys the work and his regular clients, but if he can pick up one or two fun, big-paying jobs... he absolutely will. “It’s not about you, it's about your client and everything you do for them. I'm not trying to take the kudos...I'm trying to give my clients even more value.” David: “If you were talking to somebody who's thinking about starting a drone business or had just started one—what would be your biggest piece of advice?” Jeremiah laughs, saying that everyone wrecks their first drone. He suggests finding a crappy, older drone on eBay and practicing flying above trees without coming below the horizon line. He says to stay in line of sight, get your drone license and get insured.  Drones are a tool...a way to make money. The camera, computer, editing software and drone are the only overhead besides car maintenance and gas. If anyone has the money, it’s great to invest in something like a Mavic 2Pro. Jeremiah now flies a Mavic 4 Advanced with a few polar pro filters. He’s shooting real estate marketing for mobile devices and speed is important in order to show the whole house and how it flows. “If you're doing the video for views, that's an act of vanity. If you're trying to sell the home, people shopping for that size home in that area will watch the whole video, and only about five people are most likely shopping for homes.” Jeremiah admits that he wants to be at the best of what he does. He cares about what he’s doing—if he didn’t, he says, it would show in his footage and to his clients. He takes pride in his work and not getting discouraged is the hardest part. Jeremiah has walked into a real estate office and asked for a meeting with the team leader asking, ‘What would it take to have walk-in privileges? Do you want me to do recruitment videos? I'll do four/year just to be able to walk in and say hi to the agents when I’d like.’ Every time he walks into an office, he walks out with two or three more things on the calendar. Jeremiah says that everyone knows a few real estate agents who they can contact to ask to shoot their next listening. His first ones took a lot longer so he made a lot less money and he did a ton of free stuff starting out. After having done five or six these listings, he could then say he was their local expert. Then he could also can show the other five listings as B roll or extra footage. He reminds people to provide a lot of value upfront, 24-hour turnaround time, and affordability. Connect with Jeremiah: Facebook: @beardhousemediaky Instagram: @beardhousemedia Kentucky Life Property Management US Forest Service Unmanned Aircraft Systems FAQs ...

19 Maj 202053min

Preston owns Jensen Air in North Dakota, working primarily in a seasonal real estate   David: “Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your business and what you do? Preston started his drone business on the side. He defined himself as different than other drone business owners because his customer base was already in place. His brother—a real estate broker for Remax—needed someone to do commercial drone footage. Preston did a little research, figured he could do it and “pulled the trigger” on studying to fly a drone. Preston’s first drone was a Mavic Air, and has since upgraded to a Mavic Zoom, which handles the wind in North Dakota much better. Preston has a YouTube channel and recently aired a video on the remote ID—a big topic for drone pilots these days. Preston understands needing to keep the sky safe but believes it's making the playing field uneven for a small drone operators. David: “When did you first get started in drones? Two years ago, he started strictly doing drone photography for real estate for his brother. Once he got his license, he thought he may as well turn it into a business. He created a Facebook page and website. He’s continued to put out content, and his business has been getting more attention: “You've got to put out a little free content so people can see what you're capable of. You have to differentiate yourself from the rest of the crowd. The more you spread your work around, the more people will find out about you and hire you.” Now, Preston has premiere customers, including a local university and a development company. However, when he first put together some footage, he had to figure out what video editing software to use, how to get videos to customers, etc. These things were big learning experiences. He began just taking video clips and photos and giving real estate agents raw footage to make their own videos, although he would still make sure the clips were very cinematic. He likes to see how creative people can get with his shots. David: “Up in your neck of the woods, what would you charge for a typical real estate shoot where you're doing photos and video clips without any editing?” Preston charges $200, which is about ½ hour of shooting but editing and color grading afterward is what takes all the time. He uses Canva, Photoshop and Lightroom as his main editing tools. If he’s doing just photos, he charges about $150, but if it's multiple photos or panoramas, he'll charge $200. For a single photo or refresh on a house, he’ll usually charge $50. If he has travel out to rural areas, he’ll also charge a travel fee. Lastly, before he sends his drone up to shoot, he scans the yard to make everything look nice, which realtors appreciate. David: “Do you stay pretty busy—especially in wintertime or freezing conditions, which are not ideal drone or real estate selling weather?” Preston says the busy season is spring to fall; most of the activities slow down in the wintertime because the cold weather is hard on the equipment, specifically the battery. Also, realtors have better luck selling with photos that have lush green grass and trees—not snow pictures. David: “Have you found real estate to be successful? Have you expanded into other areas or are you sticking with that niche for now?” Although Preston says he’s sticking with the niche of real estate because it’s given him so much business over the past couple of years, he’s still willing to expand. For example, he’s interested in mapping, because he’s always nervous about the accuracy of the drone mapping. He’s also been talking to a local radio station trying to get into radio tower inspections. However, right now, he says, he costs a lot of money for them. David: “During your busy season—and only on the real estate side—how busy do you get? How many jobs are you getting per month?” Sometimes he may be swamped and doing a drone job over his lunch hour, sometimes not. He’s always taking photos and putting content up on Instagram and Facebook. His town flooded a little bit this past fall and he took pictures and posted it to a “What's Happening?” page in Valley City. The last time he checked, the site had 19,000 views, so it was an easy way to get great exposure. Sometimes he gets random calls – like someone wanting to borrow a clip for a promotional video, which was free advertising. David: “You’re doing this on the side of your regular job. You said you work as an office manager during the day—how has that helped you on the business side of drones?” It has really helped him save money. He can't just buy the most expensive video editing software. He has to take that into consideration, especially if just doing it as a side gig. Drone insurance was also difficult to find around where he lives. He now pays monthly for Skywatch so when it's cold or nasty outside, he doesn't have to pay for insurance. He pays for extra coverage with DJI and has liability insurance through the company. He used Squarespace to build his website and pays only $15-20 bucks per month for the site. He’s also taken advantage of Fiverr for design work. “I keep dumping all the money that I've made from my drone business back into the company—I keep improving software and equipment. I keep building myself up and making it better. If everybody else is improving what they're doing, you're gonna get left behind.” David: “For people at the beginning or just interested in listening to what others are doing— what would you recommend if they want a drone business but aren’t sure where to start.” Preston says the first thing to do is start studying for the Part 107. He says that will open doors—but it's not going to guarantee business. You have to go out and get that. “Be optimistic because there are many different avenues to make money with drones—mapping agricultural, public safety, all sorts of things. There's new technology coming out every day to make money from.” Another thing he says to do is to set up an artist's gallery on your website and throw up photos that people can order—HD, metal prints, canvases, any professional printing options. David: “Are people reaching out to you asking to be able to use footage that you already have?” Yes, I've had people contact me about using photos for their website, or as a background for Facebook. I said to go ahead and use it because it’s free advertising. Preston says most of his traction comes from Facebook and Instagram. Connect with Preston: Website: http://www.jensenairllc.com/ Facebook: @jensenairllc Instagram: @jensenairllc Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 3? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Photo Pro Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course ($100 off)

13 Maj 202035min

Leo Adams is CEO/Co-Founder of SkyeLink, a professional drone service company with a drone marketplace and pilot network.  David: “Tell us what kind of services SkyeLink provides for drone services and on the pilot network side?” The main services SkyeLink offers are aerial inspections, aerial mapping and aerial photography. They work in construction, solar, real estate, production and typography. Their pilot network allows them to scale and offer flexibility to clients nationwide. Their drone marketplace allows clients to connect with pilots, post jobs, and receive bids from within the pilot network. The network also streamlines the process of getting pilots deployed by offering compliance documentation, Part 107 certification, insurance certificates and drone registration. David: “Did it start off with the pilot network idea from the beginning? Were you offering services and then expanded more and more?” Leo bought his first Mavic drone in 2016, taking images and doing aerial photography, as a side hustle while still in a full-time corporate job. When he went to flying full time, the company began to do more aerial photography, as well as video production, real estate work and inspections. Leo believes that starting in roof inspections is the easiest route, especially with a Mavic or Phantom 4. From there, he began doing more infrastructure, energy solar inspections and mapping work. Working with pilots across the country opened the door to working with bigger clients. The goal was always to have a nationwide business. When he found his partner/CTO, who heads technical operations and software development, they spent all of 2018 bringing in clients and taking the business to the next level. “It’s been a slow but steady process. Every year I learn something new, I evolve a little bit and grow into a new area. It's been exciting journey since 2016.” David: “With the kind of pilot network you're building, are you still finding clients, then finding the pilots for those jobs? Are you at a point where you're getting referrals and have repeat clients or are you making an active effort to go out and pitch people?” SkyeLink is continuing to develop new business, create new opportunities for their pilots and close contracts. Existing clients come back to them for work. They’re always communicating with new prospects and trying to close new contracts that can bring more work to their pilots. Obviously, they want to win as much business as possible and keep their pilots as busy as they can. David: “While you were transitioning out of corporate work to a full-time drone business—which I feel like is like the dream for a lot of people—what was it like when you were first starting out and managing full time work AND side work?” In college Leo had run a couple of businesses so he knew that he eventually wanted to be a full-time entrepreneur. When he moved to Charlotte, Leo says, “I wanted to create something that would allow me freedom to do my own thing. I had that intention right from the start and worked at it. I took action on that goal by doing things that put me in a position to make the leap away from my full-time job. I might've done it a little too soon, but it gave me the energy and drive to make it work!” Leo spent a lot of time capturing B roll for videographers that didn't know about using drones yet. He tried to meet and collaborate with as many people as possible, always looking for how to bring them value. He made videos for small businesses, using his drone as a tool on many projects. He found that realtors, agents and brokers had low cost expectations and there were a lot of people looking to get into drones who were willing to offer low introductory discounts. As a result, it became apparent to him that the market was saturated. He knew he couldn't hang around there forever if I was going to make it work in the long term, so he began pursuing work in other sectors. David: “What did you do next? What kind of work did you look for in what kind of timeframe?” Leo did real estate videography and video production for the better part of a year still working at his full-time old job. It was when he started progressing out of it and joined some pilot networks that he started to have the idea to create a unique type of pilot network that would work with their pilots on what's fair for them while keeping it competitive for the client and having their margin. “I wanted to have a conscious capitalist mindset. There was a different way to do it that seemed better to me and I had to find a way to position myself differently.” When Leo was first getting started, he emailed potential leads, which, he says, was not the most sustainable. He found out that when he was able to have a face-to-face conversation with a potential client, they were much more willing to work with him—as opposed to drone pilots who were bombarding them via email or cold calling. Leo says, “Know who your ideal client is, then find out where they live, what they do, where they go, etc. Networking events, conferences, and industry meetups are great places to build relationships with potential prospects—whether they have a job or not.” People he’s met at these events have connected him with past colleagues or they have active projects in their pipeline. David: “What ways have you found to be able to get in front of customers?” Leo suggests, when reaching out to these companies, to ask yourself how you can provide value. Can you go out there and do a demo or sample inspection and show them what deliverables you can produce for them? That might be enough to push them over the edge and to feel your services are worthwhile. “Add a Demo Day/ Lunch & Learn to your marketing mix to talk to potential clients about what you offer. For example, bring lunch to an engineering firm’s project managers and talk about typography, mapping projects you've created, elevation models, terrain models or contour maps.” David: “How would you direct people just starting their business to get moving generating some income—at least on the side?” Leo says you just have to get out and fly, just passing the Part 107 exam doesn't make you a good pilot. He insists people should go to a park and try different shots—trucking shots, an orbit shot or a reveal shot—these are typical shots that drone pilots are using in real estate videography or production work. From there, go out and meet people and reach out to your existing network. Once you start doing work, make sure you're saving some of the deliverables and footage that you take. “Down the road, your portfolio will be your biggest sales tool to drive new business.” David: “How did you make the transition from video production to being able to talk intelligently and sell engineers?” It was about working with and partnering with smarter people than himself, asking for help from people that had experience with those services. He solicited working with them, even sometimes having them attend new business meetings to jointly sell and so he could learn from them. “If you approach it in the right way, this is a very collaborative industry. You're able to work with other pilots and, hopefully, create mutually beneficial relationships.” David: “So when you set up partnerships with these pilots, how did you sell that without seeming like you were creating more competition for them? How did you get them to agree to let you learn from them?” Leo says he had to show his true intention of working with them to bring more business to their business too. He tried ...

5 Maj 202038min

Mike Jensen, from Sacramento Drone, has been in business for almost 30 years doing wedding and event videos and corporate videography. Mike always offered unique services to clients, such as 8mm film, 360 VR panoramas and aerial shots of wedding venues. In the mid-90s, he did his first aerial by renting an airplane and continued to get aerial footage by renting helicopters. At $400/hr, it was very expensive, but he gathered a reusable library of about 30 to 40 of the most popular wedding venues in town and says, “Before the drone revolution, my competitors weren't offering that.” In 2006, I created and produced the world record wedding video event in Sacramento, setting a new world record of 100 cameras to professionally film a wedding. David: “So when did you get into flying a traditional kind of quad copter setup?" When drones started to become reliable in the early 2000s, Mike didn't feel comfortable flying them himself, so he found a drone pilot online that was flying a lot over water. Finally in 2014, Mike got his license and purchased his first drone—a DJI Phantom 2. I started flying it for events and later upgraded it to the Autel X-star then to the Mavic Pro. Today although he flies an Autel EVO, his favorite drone to fly is the Mavic 2 Pro Zoom. David: “Do you use drones right now mostly as a supplement to your film business or have you gotten into any drone services?” Mike had an advantage of having a videography company first. At some point, his videography clients also need drone services, which made it an easy sell. One of Mike’s biggest clients is a local major construction company. They've hired him to go out every week and do visual updates--flying for 1-2 hrs, shooting 3-4 one-minute videos, 20-40 stills and a top down shot. Mike stitches all those together in Photoshop and delivers a megapixel image of the entire property from 400 feet looking down. He saves them a lot of money by providing that documentation, their project manager meets with corporate every week and needs to show them progress. David: “For a construction job where you'll shoot once a week and these projects take months, what do you typically charge for a job like that?” Mike is hired to fly once a week for 30 weeks and charges them $300 a flight. That includes 1-1 1/2 hrs of flying, culling images, making sure his videos look good, uploading and then sending them the link. This is an ongoing client, often bringing him onto another project as they’re finishing one up. David: “Were you actively reaching out to those types of clients or did they find you? How did that work come about?” I shot for many years for a large West Coast healthcare provider. They were building a medical office building where Mike lives in Sacramento and the construction company brought him on for their own projects. One job led to another. Most of my business at this point in my career is word of mouth. David: “Looking back to when you were first starting, can you think of tactics that might work in today's environment? For example, if you were starting in the drone business, didn't have history with Jensen Films, and wanted a drone only business, what do you think you would do first to get it going?” Mike says he’s expanded his video company and doing a lot of different things—drones are just one of them. For example, when he started doing photo booths, he got on Facebook and let everybody know by creating and posting short videos. Similarly, for 360VR work, they just started shooting some footage unpaid, posted it and let his friends know. A photographer friend knew about a huge condo project that was going up and needed 360 video. “What really helped me was letting the world know what I was doing and doing it well. I needed to WOW the first client I got and then over-deliver on the promises I’d made. It’s also important to continue to up my game. I’m always looking for ways to increase my skills. If you start standing still, that's a prescription to fail.” David: “So tell me a little bit about the VR stuff. When did you guys start doing that...what's that like?” One night when he was editing late, Mike stumbled on the website of a 360 videographer who’d created gorgeous 360 images of the Royal Danish wedding. Mike realized he needed to do that with his brides, so he bought the equipment and started marketing it. Since then, he’s made custom rigs for his drones and included Live 360 and Ground 360 in virtual wedding movies for his brides. Clients can link to it on Vimeo or Facebook from their desktop, laptop or phones, or use goggles. David: “How much do you charge for VR video?” Mike began charging $750 for VR wedding video, but with every new VR video, he’s raised the price to $1,000, $1,250 or $1500. It’s an add-on to a basic package for the day. An exciting thing he’s been using is the new Insta 360-1R, which is two cameras that mount on the top and bottom of the Mavic 2Pro and can shoot stills or video without that dead spot on top (see link at bottom for website for Insta 360-1R) David: “In the last five years or so, as drones have become much more affordable and the technology has gotten a lot better, how has that impacted your business, if at all?” Mike says he’s always been an early adopter because it's given him the advantage of being able to market something that no one else has. With the wedding 360s, there may be only five other people in the country that offer that for wedding packages. He tells his brides, “it's the only shot of your wedding day where you'll be able to see everyone in your wedding in one shot.” Mike says, “I’m never satisfied with where my business is. I'm always looking for different ways to help my clients put the dream and the goal of what they need and want into images.” David: “So you have corporate and weddings, you're doing construction stuff, some VR stuff and the photo booth stuff. Is there anything else that you have going on that you're excited about?” Jensen Films is contracted with a real estate company that brings in actors to stand-in inside luxury homes while Mike films them. It’s a type of lifestyle video that’s simple to do. Mike brings in the actors and, now that he’s been licensed for a number of years, he flies the drone himself.  It’s also in the contract that when the house sells, they’ll pay him an extra $750 to $1,000. He also helps them by posting to his social media and giving them a little bit of advertising from his end. David: “If you had some advice to give somebody who's just starting a drone business—whether it's video, documenting construction sites, or mapping—what direction would you provide to get started?" 1-Always deliver more than you promise. Clients have come back to him again and again because he always delivers more. 2-Don't get into this industry unless you have a passion, not only for the drone work, but for the business end as well. The drone is the backend of the business. 3-Continue to improve on not only your technical flight skills, but on your creative photo and video skills, composition, movement, lighting. Whenever Mike flies for a client, he’s looking for that epic shot that will wow his clients. Connect with Mike: Website: www.SacramentoDrone.com Some samples of Mike’s 360VR wedding work: https://vimeo.com/262143827 https://vimeo.com/256345801 Insta360 One R:

28 Apr 202038min

Alex is drone photographer and videographer. He is also the author of two of our Drone Launch Academy courses—Aerial Video A to Z and Aerial Photo Pro. David: “Let’s start with you giving us your background.” Alex already had a videography service. When he’d show up to film a corporate event, he said, it nagged at him that he needed to get a drone and a license to fly it. “I could see how much it helped to diversify between camera work and photography,” he said, “it’s easier to sell and rates go up way, way more if I'm adding photography and drones to the package.” Alex’s first drone was a Phantom 3 standard which hooked him. Although at first like a toy, he came to realize it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Once Alex upgraded to the Mavic pro, he felt it really started to work for him. David: “You mentioned you’d worked in film in Hollywood—tell us about that.” Alex worked on short films and for ESPN, Discovery Health and HGTV, as a camera operator. When he moved back to Phoenix and began doing corporate work, he says that because standards were lower and the budgets higher, he felt more in control of the work. He had creative freedom and client appreciation. From learning so much so fast in LA, which was a sink or swim environment, Phoenix’s high-stress environment felt like a cake walk—which helped him stand out. David: “That’s probably about the time you and I met right? I stumbled across one of your YouTube videos when I was developing the Part 107 course. I took it, bought all the equipment that you had, filmed everything and asked if I could pay you to edit it.” “You were my only fan up to that point. I’d filmed a couple of times with someone else’s Inspire, but I didn't own a drone yet.” After purchasing Alex’s course for $20, David and Alex started making plans to create a cinematography course. Quite suddenly, Alex found out he had a brain tumor and had to have surgery. Six months later, Alex and David re-convened to begin creating the course. Alex began focusing for 30 minutes and would have to sleep 12 hours; a week later, he could do an hour, a week later he could do 1 ½ hrs, etc. They put out that one course, got great feedback and ultimately scrapped and re-did it. David: “Let’s talk a little about your actual drone business. During this time, you’re still editing and flying drones for people. You have experience doing a lot of drone photography for clients. How did you get your first corporate video clients? Alex says it was such a powerful upsell right away to say he could film corporate events from the sky. He knew better angles and how to change settings to make it way more cinematic and because of that, he stood out. A two-day conference cost $2,500 to provide an edited a 4-minute compilation and photos. Alex went to popular conference places in Scottsdale and Phoenix and would film a ton of footage in all those places. So, prospects were confident he knew about drone filming, so he got hired for that even if he didn’t get hired for a full event. He charged $200/hour, which Alex says was easy to do to scare off the value-focused people who want to pay $50/hour, then ask for more time and revisions. Alex says, “When dealing with bigger clients and companies, what they’re mainly concerned about is quality—they want to make sure they get it right and don't look silly in their video. Also, when you quote a higher rate, they think you must be really serious and legitimate.” David: “Did they ask to see a demo reel? How else did you justify charging that much?" Once Alex got his Maverick Pro, he got a huge reel together by going around town filming. He also knew about SEO because he ranked number one in his city by making multiple smaller videos that were specific to what people were searching for.  And, Alex says, “When they then go to hire a guy to film there, I'm the one with my name in the title, so they're immediately going to click on it. That simple step, and I’m already halfway there.” David: “So your marketing strategy, was to go out, have fun, shoot as much stuff as you can, make it really good and put it on YouTube/Instagram? Or did you knock door to door asking people to pay you to film video? What are your recommendations to a new businessperson about how to start marketing?” Alex says when he started filming different parts of the city and putting it on Vimeo and YouTube, some got used, some didn't. He’d filmed Scottsdale in a lot of different conditions—the waterfront, a thunderhead, during a sunset, sunrise or rainbow, which made him stand out. When he started compiling them, the reel just got better and better. Alex says, “That footage doesn't have many views, yet I’ve been contacted by people who were going to hire a drone operator, but since I already had the footage, they wanted to buy it. It's EASY for them to pay you $150-300 because you have exactly what they want. Sometimes, also, they need help with other things.” Another thing he became aware of was that people who are moving to town would look at his videos, giving him more views and his footage rose in search results. David: “Do you want to give a quick rundown on the courses that you have with us--what they are about and what people learn in each one?” Alex agrees to talk about the courses and the timing is right because he added business and marketing sections which are important for those starting a drone business. Aerial Photo Pro is an intro to beginner to expert course on how to get great photos with your drone. It’s hop-on/off the bus whenever you want...you won’t learn it all and make an award-winning photo in one day. It goes into the things he is doing differently with simple stuff. It teaches how to take a raw photo, load it into Adobe Lightroom, and use brushes to make things look more “soft and fluffy” or really sharp. Alex says, “From a business perspective, I’ll always take a photography job. It's almost leisure, I still make $200 an hour and I can do 20 photos quickly. Whether for a construction site, a real estate developer or agent, it’s relaxing because you have so many chances to get the same thing.” Aerial Video A to Z helps people understand filming. Alex says video people make many mistakes in many places across too many things—and there’s a lot of bad advice out there. With video, there are many who don’t understands what they're filming so there's confusion—it’s like putting all this data through a teeny little straw and then taking a sliver out of the back end. This course is very in-depth and if you follow the steps in it, you can get very very good. You just have to be willing to go out, practice and go back and forth. “Once you do nail it, you feel like Steven Spielberg and you send it to everybody. You send these teeny little :30 clips to your mom and she's so proud of you. It's the best feeling ever.” Connect with Alex: Email: alex@dronelaunchacademy.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 3? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Photo Pro Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A t...

21 Apr 202051min

Dustin’s company is Full Scope Inspections, a home inspection company in Citrus, FL specializing in roofs made of metal, tile, slate (or anything that shouldn’t be walked on or is too steep or elevated.) David: “When did you first start getting into drones and when did you fly your first drone?” Dustin was using drone before starting his drone business. He noticed people weren’t using drones for inspections and his residential construction background told him there could be a big market—it just all made sense. Dustin says that when paying for a home inspection, the roof is a key component—but you don’t have to walk on it. With a drone, Dustin found he could see deficiencies another inspector wouldn’t because they're not getting a full view. Dustin’s clients call him because they know it’s important that their roof be inspected closely. Dustin says the drone is a differentiator, but he doesn’t charge more for it. By using it when necessary, he can take pictures around things that may typically be blocking a view. He also uses the drone also to sell his services through his report.   David: “For the homes that you do use a drone for, what’s the approximate revenue the drone has brought you—in busy and slow months?” For a typical home inspection, Dustin may charge $300-$400, but it depends on the square footage. He does 4-8 inspections/week. Dustin also does some imaging for realtors, charging $75 to shoot 10-12 photos. He also does a lot of promotion through that group. For example, he raffled 10 to 12 drone shots—a $75 value as a gift basket entry at a tailgate party he had for realtors. Nice pictures potentially make or break a deal, Dustin says, and good camera shots sell property. According to Dustin, “I'm building a business that's going to be here long-term and the first couple of years are definitely crucial. I'm getting really good feedback, some really good reviews. It’s pretty exciting.”   David: “Talk us through when you first started your inspection business, and no one knew who you were. How did you start building the business?” Dustin had a vision that was different than most... he says he could see everything before he ever put it into place. “In this business, the only way it would fail was if I let it. There are enough opportunities and so many different outlets that if you put yourself in the right places, then the only person that's gonna allow you to fail is yourself.” He looked up a local home inspector whose online setup was blah and then he built everything around the image of what he lacked. Through reviews requests from customers, and a small amount of Google Ads, he is driven to the top of a Google search. He also uses a software called HomeGage to send tips once he finishes a report. Three days later, HomeGage sends an auto-generated email asking them to leave a review. Two months later, another email is auto-generated asking for referrals.   David: “Did your first customer come through networking or did someone stumble across your stuff? How did you get that first client?” Dustin’s hit the ground running. His first client came from Google.  From there, he started meeting with different realtors and the Realtors Association. He also joined a networking group which has helped him tremendously. “It all boils down to you building relationships with realtors. Get your name out there. If you can be on a realtor's top three list, it will pay off.” Dustin was building all of this while working and studying for the test. He knew how many jobs he should expect to do, how many he needed to do survive each week/month. He said, “If I commit to it and set my mind to it, this is what's going to happen. A lot of people have one little setback or somebody tells them No, and they say, ‘Maybe I shouldn't do this’. Second-guessing yourself is common. That's what you do. If I didn't pass the exam, I was going to take it again. I wrote it down and I could see it all the way through.”   David: “What's your favorite part of having your own business/working for yourself? What's your favorite part and what's the part you like the least?” Dustin’s favorite part is having time for his kids and their sports—he likes the flexibility and freedom. Dustin says he has a hard time letting go, he can’t let someone do things so that he can focus on the business. Because customers tell him the reason they booked an inspection was because they felt comfortable with his knowledge, he has a hard time turning that over to somebody else...it's a strain. However, Dustin says, “I’m not going to grow if I'm doing the same things I did last year.”   David: “For someone who's starting out from scratch and wants to build a drone business, what's one of the most important lessons you've learned? What’s your advice? Dustin says having a vision and a plan of how to pursue that vision. “We live in the land of the free, the United States, and you can do whatever you want to do right here. You just have to put your mind to it, go out to the right places and meet the right people and, and just know that you're not going to accept no for an answer.” Website :www. Fullscopeinspecdtions.com FB: fullscopeinspections Connect with Dustin: Website: www.fullscopeinspections.com Facebook www.facebook.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 3? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Photo Pro Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course ($100 off) Aerial Roof Inspection Pro Course ($100 off) Drones 101 Course ($20 off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher Google Play Spotify TuneIn

14 Apr 202044min

Sinuhe is Founder of DroneQuote a company that specializes in helping roofing and solar companies better understand what’s happening on a roof through drone survey imagery. Sinuhe started working installing solar panels on new roofs for residential and commercial purposes. He had to get on roofs to take measurements and conduct surveys and was afraid of heights. In thinking there had to be a better way, he bought a small drone with a camera and started seeing potential and benefits such as being able to: Take far more accurate measurements and SELL better Get a better understanding of what was happening on the roof AND save time Pay more attention to details because fear of falling didn’t prevent him from noticing details Stay SAFER! “My first $100 drone was very rudimentary; it taught me how to fly a drone and allowed me to open my mind to the concept of utilizing a drone. There was an opportunity and I learned from it.” When Sinuhe learned he could transmit an image to a receiver, he needed something more sophisticated, so, in February 2014, he sold his motorcycle to buy a real TBS (Team Black Sheep) drone for $3,400. That first drone lasted until the day he crashed into a pine tree, falling 30 feet to the ground and smashing it into smithereens. Lesson learned for anyone just starting to get into drones...don't overestimate your confidence because you will pay through the nose!”   David:  So, at that point, you're working for a solar installer and using the drone to make your life easier in your current job, right? Yes. The drone, Sinuhe says, enabled him to generate more sales, which made him more sales commission by using it—it paid for itself—but his company wasn’t paying for him to have it. “I realized that I had something on my hands that nobody was using for that purpose. I was also speaking with well-to-do clientele. When I entered a house whose living room was the size of my entire house, I shifted from trying to sell solar to learning what that person did to be successful.” Almost everyone said they became successful by starting a business. The seed was planted and Sinuhe started saving money to start a business. It took him two years to get his ducks in a row and leave his company to set out on his own.   David: “Smart. When did you shift from working for the solar company to starting your own business? What was your plan? How did you get your first paying client?” Sinuhe started his business in 2017. For him, it’s not until you open your doors for business that you find out what’s going to work. You Droners.io was his original model. He said, “I'm going to build a website that's going to help people find drone pilots, yet I kept getting calls from people in the solar industry asking me to inspect a roof. So I shifted my focus to inspecting roofs wholeheartedly—and that was really where we started making money. “So you figure out what's working, what's not, where your opportunity is, and then shift your focus that way. With this model, I was getting paid right away for the service.”   David: “How did you build that up to where people knew who you were? Did you have a lot of contacts from your days selling solar? I know you’re brave with cold-calling—for people out there who may not be as comfortable cold calling, can you walk us through a mock cold call? How do you get past the first minute of awkwardness where the other person is trying to figure out what you want?” Sinuhe makes it a point to be active on social media where he found solar companies and large roof installers. He cold called... and cold called... and cold called—which turned into opportunities. Sinuhe says,” “A lot of people see cold-calling as intimidating, but It's in your head. It’s the person's job to answer the phone and it’s only awkward if you make it so. You avoid that by doing research on who you're going to call before you call them. If you get the right information, you have a WARM call.” SInuhe mentions his most important cold-call points: Ask if they have a moment for you to offer to help them with something. Mention something you saw on LinkedIn. Reference a person and use their language, so they know you understand their company and pain points. You’ll earn their interest based on your ability to understand some of their pain points. With the person who answered the phone, make it sound as though you've already talked to the person you’re trying to reach in the past. When you get to the person you want, mention a topic they posted and offer the opportunity to help with something specific; in this way, you’re not talking about something they haven't thought about or planned for. Use open ended questions, such as “What is something that troubles you? What challenges do you face on steep roofs?. LET THEM TALK! In due time, offer a solution, such as, “I can survey your roof in a much quicker manner and more than likely at a lower cost to your company.” Even if you don’t understand the industry. If you’ve done your research, you can learn—it’s all research-based. Be willing to learn. You’re going to hear “No, I don't need your services. Thank you.” Look forward to the NOs. Count how many NOs it takes to get to YES! With every no, you're one step closer to your YES! Ask if there's anybody they know that would benefit from your services. You may get some leads. It's worth asking because the worst they can say is no.   David: “What did people pay you for a typical job at the beginning and what product were you delivering?  What does it take on your end to do a residential home? What data are you capturing and what do you need to process?” Sinuhe was usually charging about one $50 to $200 per flight for roof inspections, depending on the size. Now, for a large commercial building, it can be $500. For a residential home, they do a drone survey gathering details on air conditioning, service panels, water and gas lines, proximity of trees, etc. He’s using the drone to create an orthomosaic map image of the property with accurate measurements.   David: “How many jobs are you getting from solar companies? For larger scale, you can hire other pilots, but if you were going to fly all those by yourself, what's the average you're charging per job?” It depends on time of year. Solar slows down at the end of the year but during the summer months, they do 50-75 jobs a month. For an average sized house, he charges $150 and if he plots his route efficiently beforehand, he can be very efficient and do 5-6 jobs a day.   David: “What other customers do you have for this type of service besides solar companies? Do you use a promo video of your guys working?” According to Sinuhe, roofing companies are a tough nut to crack because they want boots on the ground. They are more receptive because they can see the value. They're getting hired by roofing and solar companies who’ve already sold the job and want to get the roof survey completed so they can move on to permitting or plans. David: “Moving forward, where do you see the biggest opportunity for people who want to use their drones for roof inspections? What tactics do you think people should be looking into in the future?” Sinuhe sees big opportunity in the solar space because it will has shown strong growth in the last 5-7 years and will continue to grow. He believes if they continue to bring down the acquisition cost to the cus...

7 Apr 202040min