S4/EP 3 James Grace of JMG Aerial Imagery

Introduction to Andrew: Although Andrew started flying drones 5 years ago, about a year ago, he decided to build a business to make some extra money. Andrew says, “Aerial photography isn’t so big in winter so I didn’t start to get business the summer. But this winter, I’ve lined up clients through spring of next year.” By the way, Andrew is a senior in high school. Andrew bought his first drone for $50 when he was 13. He then got a Parrot Bebop2 which he loved but wasn’t pleased with the pictures. He later bought, and still uses, a Maverick2 Pro.” David agreed “Cheaper drones can get you interested and lead to more. My first drone was a Syma X5C so when someone wants my advice on their first drone, I say, ‘Get a Syma X5Cs on Amazon for $40. They're super light and when you need to land, you just cut the power and it flows to the ground’.” David: “What was it that sparked you to say, ‘I need to make some money doing this’? Did you target realtors when you started? Tell us about your original business plan starting out.” When Andrew could get his Part 107 license at 16, he got a nicer drone for taking pictures and videos. He thought, “Why not get a license, work and bring in some extra money to travel and save for college?” Andrew agreed to take pictures for a golf course in return for them putting it on their social media and tagging him. The job was unpaid, but got him clients and followers—basically, they advertised for him. Last summer, the most impactful thing he did was message a drone company in Chicago to ask for advice about getting clients. They told him to find a local real estate photographer and offer aerial photography to them. So that’s what he did. David: “Are you just doing photography or are you doing video too? Do you charge separately for videos? Do you also edit?” Andrew says he takes as many pictures or videos as he can in 30-45’ to give clients a lot to choose from. If he has to fly from one spot to another, that’s a video. He does some editing but outsources most of it to a company in Vietnam for a very affordable price. For pictures with some videos and no editing he charges $100, slightly more for editing and/or any location farther than 30’ from home. David: “Regarding your approach to the golf course, did you say, ‘I'm going to get my name out there’, and then Googled ‘golf courses in my area’ and contacted them? How did you specifically start to make that happen?” While flying one day, Andrew took pictures of a golf course across the road from his school which he posted to IG and tagged. When they responded that they loved his pictures through Instagram, he requested a contact. He sent them an EM saying, “I'm starting this company, I'm insured and licensed. Can I come to your golf course and take pictures for your social media?” They agreed, so Andrew took and edited pictures and sent them over (They still post his pictures). Since then, Andrew’s process has become simple...he finds contact information online and reaches out. At this point, though, he has a whole portfolio so he’s not offering his services for free. David: “Tell us more about the paying clients that you got from free work. Were they members of the golf course or people from the neighborhood who saw it on social media and reached out?” Andrew got two clients from the first golf course who were from the neighborhood. At first, they followed the golf course on IG. Then, they followed Andrew, reaching out to him later through there. They wanted pictures of the golf course for their home; he charged them $125 for 4x2 & 5x7 pictures. With printing costing $30, he made $95 from each job.  David: “So after getting paying clients from the golf course, how did you expand into real estate? Did you try and fail and then reach out to that company in Chicago or is that the first thing you did? Walk us through when you started shifting to real estate.” Andrew replied, “The first real estate job I had was in July before I reached out to that company in Chicago. I brought business cards to my school’s career day, and went up to a broker from a large commercial real estate firm who spoke and said, ‘I just started doing aerial photography for real estate. Here's my card.’ He said thank you—nothing more. In July he reached out to ask me to do a 500-acre farm. I was so excited because I thought they would give me more work if I did good.” The work took four hours and he charged $585: $400 for the time, $185 for editing and a 5-minute video (at that point, he had no idea what to charge so he made it up). Now, Andrew gets one $200-$500 real estate job per month. During busy months, Andrew averages 5-10 jobs a week, which is $2000 to $4,000 a month. During slow months, he often has 2 jobs a week, making $1,200 a month. David: “How much detail do you add to videos...Music? Narration? Overlay text?” He uses Litchi to map out his flight 10 minutes beforehand and then creates automated flight video going around the property for 40 minutes, taking video clips and pictures of the house. For video, he starts off with a title/address and puts it to music. David: “What other ways have you found effective to get clients? I know you also reached out to a real estate photographer. Talk about that a little bit.” Essentially, Andrew Googled “real estate photographer, Frederick, MD,” and found one company to email, saying “I do aerial photography, and I would love to be the person you hire.” When he sent his portfolio, they’d said other people had charged a lot more than him and their work wasn’t as good, so he was hired! Later when Andrew posted/tagged pics of big hotel chains, when they said “This is amazing. We love this”, he said it was a big confidence booster. David: “For your company, did you set up the SkyPix name as an LLC with a bank account or is that just kind of a name you chose to?” Since he’s under 18, the name is a trade name. When 18, he’ll create an LLC. Andrew keeps track of all payments, using Square for invoices and a Google spreadsheet to keep track of everything he spends. David: “Where do you see things headed? Will you stay in real estate, or with golf courses, or try to expand into other things? Will you build a team? What does the future look like for you?” Andrew wants to start a drone pilot network, like drone ERs. He’ll be working with a development team to develop the platform and do his marketing. He’s moving to Orlando, so right now he’s training somebody in Maryland to keep doing work there (right now, this person is studying to get their Part 107 license with Drone Launch Academy). Once he moves to Orlando, Andrew will reach out to real estate agents. He’d eventually like to get into mapping and infrared, but doesn't have the money saved up right now to put towards something like an Inspire 2 with a special camera.” Connect with Martin Instagram: www.instagram.com Website: www.skypixap.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 Video A to Z Course (20% off) Other Places to Listen iTun...

31 Mars 202040min

Martin hosts The FlyLife Podcast for FPV-based podcast for UAV drone people. It’s also a long format—bi-weekly episodes are between 1-2 hrs and he now has over 50 episodes. He’s also done very niche-specific commercial drone work.  He got into drones in 2015 because, after a break up, he was habitless and wandering Best Buy and found a small $60 drone, which flew into a house and broke. He then went online and found an FPV (First Person) drone and started flying on his own. He fell in love because it was creative and technical. So he decided to search CraigsList for drone jobs...and found one quite near his house. He didn’t get the job but was able to intern and learn when he wasn’t working at his restaurant. In late 2017 the place where he interned asked him to come back and build a drone. He found a lot of other contract jobs to do UAV work while still working at the restaurant. Then the restaurant sold and he had a bit of money and time to travel the country and meet people. The last thing to happen—in April 2019—was a lucrative opportunity to do FPV drone work that he was offered because he was very comfortable flying close to the ground. He also simultaneously got an offer to film an Olympic skier with an FPV drone.   Martin also works with a magnetometer—a device that can detect metal with a GPS. It picks up anything emitting electromagnetic radiation and it will give you a color-coded map of anomalies in the ground. He is hired by companies looking to understand what’s on their land that they may possibly sell rights for. For those types of jobs, Martin was making $250/day plus expenses, or $2,000/week. Martin says real estate can be a tough market and it’s not his passion. What he DOES love is the FPV cinematic work, which is really fun and pays better than magnetometer work. Martin is on all social media: YouTube is flylifeco; Instagram and Facebook are flylife_co. Martin says he’s gotten most of his clients from social media. His camera is nothing special but wants to upgrade soon. He films everything on GoPro Hero 6 or 7. He also uses Reel Steady as a post-filming production software. He says the footage isn’t shaky but it shouldn’t look like an action cam. He uses 7 for hyper-smooth because it runs a different firmware. So if you want to run steady with it, you have to use a gel-mount. The 6 has a lesser firmware on its gyro which takes less time to process. His typical FPV shoot is action sports filming because he can be going 60 mph and then stop. He chases active work and also tight interior spots. The least amount he’s charged for a day of filming was $600 per day. The most he’s charged was $2,500 for two full days of filming. He says he’s charging for something that’s close and can be dangerous but he can get in tight for action. Martin did have contacts from building relationships with his internship in the FPV world. If he were starting up and needed clients, Martin says he wouldn’t do anything different but maybe would put more effort into certain areas. His basic advice is: “You can’t have a chimp on your shoulder and think about what you’re going to get out of something. Do some things for free—everyone has a friend who needs pictures. Great content producers have taken a lot of flights. Say Yes—you’ll learn a lesson or something new.” Getting some photography and going home to realize you made a mistake is something everyone does...but you don’t have to do it twice. Martin is always ready to tell people what he does and much of the work that he’s gotten has been from random meetings or when he just puts himself out there. “The little things really matter—pay attention and be passionate.” Martin favors Instagram to showcase his work, he believes it’s the place with the least opinion. You get a one-minute post to grab someone’s attention, which is not stressful. Adding hashtags makes it really consistent and easy for people to notice you. His biggest challenge was breaking into it. Growing things on the Internet to get to the first paid job can seem long but it adds confidence. He is selling himself so he has had to be capable. Everything is a learning process. Drones now are what cars were in 1918 and the industry is still being built. Regulations will change and things are evolving; but the sky’s the limit. Connect with Martin Instagram: www.instagram.com YouTube: www.YouTube.com Facebook www.facebook.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 2? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course (20% off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher Google Play Spotify TuneIn

21 Aug 201952min

Dominic is a Tacoma, WA-based real estate photographer. He was in the Air Force for years which is where he first picked up a camera. He loved it so once he got out, he got his own camera and thought he’d do journalistic photography. After recent elections, he decied he couldn’t do politics so he got a job with a car company doing their photography. He ended up bored. Then, although he’d thought doing real estate would be boring, this is now his full-time job.  Dominic is happy to report that every day during the busy season, he has plenty of work to do. He knew that with photography making money was going to be on the videography or real estate side. Drones were up and coming when he started in 2013, so he focused more on photography. In 2015 he found a random ad on FB asking for a real estate photographer. He went through training and the company that hired him—Cascade Pro Media—got him a drone. They have been a great alliance because they are consistently very booked and even often have to turn away work. He also has his own clients that he’s gotten from word-of-mouth, from being at the top of the SEO list for Tacoma, WA and via Instagram. He says it’s the best way to reach potential clients because agents browse Instagram when they’re sitting at an open house. Dom’s business is currently 50% what Cascade gives him and 50% what he has grown. He also now does several things—photography, videography, 3D tours and drone work. The drone has become more popular, having been added to 35 of the last 50 shoots. Dominic does work in Tacoma but also goes west towards Gig Harbor, east towards Mt Rainier and out to Puget Sound, where properties have a five-acre minimum. The drone goes up to 300 feet and gives you so much more so with real estate photography, Dominic is making more money than he did with all his photography jobs in the past five years. When Dominic got his license, the first drone he flew was the Phantom4 before he backed it into a tree (it can still fly but needs repair). He also used the Drone Launch Academy Part 107 prep course; he says he tells everyone about the quick and convenient set up, which is a great reminder of the military testing and also easy to get through. His second drone was a MavicPro, which fit perfectly in his bag so he could carry just the bag. Less than a week after, the MavicPro2 came out so he bought that. The MavicPro2 is now his go-to drone; the image and color quality make his images great. Dominic feels that knowing photography before he got a drone has helped his business grow. Dominic also says he grew up playing X-Box so the controls were easy (unless there was a tree behind him). Right now, his method for finding clients is through SEO, word of mouth but also: “Business Instagram is the best—I can specifically and strategically use hashtags. People often just need extra people when who they often use is booked up.” He is not actively going to real estate offices or networking. He says anyone can go to offices,   but the agents can’t see your stuff and they just shove your card under a table. David asked if Dominic ever tried to offer to shoot something for free. Dominic says he didn’t need to do that. Just from the gig with Cascade ProMedia, the first two months, he made over $7000/month. He pays them a percent of what he makes. But for what he gives them, they give him ten times that in the work they give him. At first, he had to pay a 30% fee, but after he became a drone photographer, that fee decreased to 20%. With this strategic affiliation, Dominic hasn’t had the discouraging feeling of having to find his own work. They also handle technical issues and his billing. Regarding what he’s charging in the Tacoma area, he mimicked the price sheet of the lead photographer. In Tacoma, his prices seem high, but when he goes north toward Seattle, because real estate is more expensive, they think he’s a deal. He charges $225 for photos and video; $150 for photos (interior and exterior), with a total flight time of 10-15 minutes. His full package of 25 photos (he charges by photo, rather than time) for a 3000 ft2 house is $275. Video is another $350. The drone (photo and video combination) is extra $225. Once the 3D tour (with Matterport) is added, there is a total fee of $1000 per house. He doesn’t scale for size of house; he does factor in time because a large house takes more time to take photos and to process them. His clients understand he’s standard, transparent and fair. During his busy times, he’s said his standard average monthly income during the busy summer season is $6-7 on the low end, up to $12K on the high end. Dominic has said that he’s sticking with real estate, not diversifying right now. He says trying to build relationships with construction for roofing needs to be done in the Winter season. Mastering and crushing his niche has allowed him to build a network and become a go-to person. He would like to add some more drone mapping outdoors on bigger properties. He says no one does it in Tacoma area at all. He also doesn’t find it hard to get work. Dominic says agencies are making sure the drone photographers HAVE the 107 license. They don’t want to handle the liability and are not as credible. “Separate yourself from other individuals. Fill the gap between older and younger generations. Understand who your client is and how to interact with them and then provide a good product. Find your own niche.”  He worked on separating his images by taking moving photos. He learned a lot in his college journalism experience. He was also a military cop so he was OK finding crime scenes and capturing raw emotions. He says, “Your auto is not always going to help you. Drone cameras are smart but you need to shoot manually too.” His largest challenges starting this business has been understanding money—budgeting, business licenses, etc. He also felt it was challenging to go into ventures with real estate agents. He says they are either laid back OR by the book and you don’t necessarily understand which is which. Some have become his friends and some are more proper, i.e. if he doesn’t send a grammatically correct email, they won’t do business with him. “It can be scary...this morning, one shoot cancelled, but another one came in right after. Running a business has made me better with money.” Dominic never has a schedule past two weeks and some people wouldn’t be able to handle that. Because he’s been making as much money as he does, and has a military paycheck, he is able to float with it. And he’s grateful to be doing it. Connect with Dominic Instagram: www.instagram.com YouTube: www.YouTube.com Email: dom@cascadepromedia.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 2? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course (20% off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher

14 Aug 201947min

Bill is a Certified Drone Pilot and co-owner (with his wife, Laura) of Billy Productions,  capturing the beauty of a home’s property and location, providing real estate agents, clients, and developers a more robust appreciation for each home’s unique character. Bill is located in ChicagoLand area, Naperville, IL. His main focus for past 20 years has been financing mortgages. The last year has been a bit more difficult in terms of compliance for the bank he works for. He needed to pick up something that would be an offshoot of that business. He picked up drones and started shooting as a hobby. After a small bit, the agents he worked with asked him to shoot a house. After a while, it was taking a lot of time from his other business. Once he got his license, that business has taken off with shoots for agents. People had seen his drone shoots and because of the synergy of the drone shoots with his previous line of work, it’s been easy to do. Bill says if you’re looking for a business, don’t go too far off, or outside of, your knowledge base, from your current knowledge base or business. David agrees that drones are a tool that is only as good as the business you’re already familiar with. It’s best have a warm audience instead of starting from scratch.  Bill has always been intrigued by photography and the technology of drones makes it more attractive—they sky is the limit. Other people are interested too; people area always coming up and asking how they work. It’s an easy in to offer so many ways to shoot something. And the topic of drones is always spurning new ideas from other people. He, though, has tried to keep his focus in the real estate business. To be successful you have to develop a specialty and build out your niche. There is a nice learning curve to be leveraged when you’re out there shooting. Six to eight months ago, a developer contacted him to shoot several lots. Bill then had to create new pricing for him because he didn’t understand how drone shooting worked. Bill also had to learn how to price a new account with several lots, instead of houses. Also, if a developer isn’t aware of the issues with his property, he could end up owing the town, or being sued, so it’s worth it to them to pay for the drone shooting. It’s like an insurance policy for them. There’s evidence so there’s no argument of the value. As a way to pan out a new niche in travel, Bill shot his nephew’s wedding, but that didn’t work out as well so he’s continued to stay with real estate. He’s also hired someone to edit. Bill says a key to success is to understand that time is money and you should find others to perform services, like editing, that are time-consuming. Editing and posting to social media is one of those things. For real estate, Bill charges $250 for video; photos are $125, shooting stills is 30-40 minutes. He may charge for a travel fee so he tries to stay within a local area. Bill is always thinking of those people who can bring clients into his other business. In terms of business, winter is always slow, but things really pick up in spring. He charged $750 for an interior/exterior shoot for a $2.5M home in Springfield. “Build a signature; Create a Brand” Bill values his connections. He’s formed one of his most important agent relationships through people he knew. He admired the photography work of one agent and that photographer didn’t work with a drone pilot. He offered to promote her business and now they work well together, helping each other grow their business(es). He learned you have to be able to turn around work quick and, ideally, make it work for you and another person. Bill’s advice for someone who may want to break into real estate drone business is: “You have to like working with the drone and learning about drone technology. Don’t be afraid of giving a free shoot or two to someone who would like what you do and be able to use you. Give to get but be authentic.” The most difficult part of starting his business is learning video and photography settings. You have to make things short and sweet. You don’t always know what will look good from out in the field. Find the settings that will work to produce the best results. If Bill were starting over, he doesn’t know what he’d do differently. He says it’s fun learning, and he’s still learning. But finding out what his biggest distraction is and staying away from that has been the thing to do. He says that distractions can keep him from his end goal. He’s gone into a few other areas and has had to learn how to stay focused. His advice is: “Always have fun ... don’t be too hard on yourself with the learning. As you’re developing your skill, share with others, because they will see your enthusiasm.” Connect with Bill Website: www.billyproductions.com Instagram: www.instagram.com Facebook: www.facebook.com Vimeo: www.vimeo.com Email: bill@billyproductions.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 2? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course (20% off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher Google Play Spotify TuneIn

6 Aug 201946min

Tom is President of Swampfox Aerial, which provides professional aerial imaging & mapping for construction and real estate development companies. Tom got into the business almost by accident. He’d run an investment fund and did some investment banking. During that time, he represented a drone company that was being bought by an engineering company and he fell in love with drones. He propositioned becoming part of the company but they didn’t want the infrastructure, so Tom told them he might become a competitor. He’d found out what drones could do—how they are changing how things are done in so many businesses. He also figured the drone industry was a good idea because it was changing rapidly so he got a couple of partners, founded a company and started a business. He says they jumped into survey grade lidar (certified surveys) which made it like graduating from college and jumping into brain surgery. Tom went straight to mapping with lidar as a niche. They had to raise capital to buy a Riegl miniVux, which goes for over $260K. Tom finds this drone fascinating—it shoots thousands of laser beams per second and registers and returns at the speed of light. You can capture returns right to the ground through the trees, making surveying in an afternoon with data back within a week. The business itself has grown, he now has a partner processor, a head of business development, a head of operations and two pilots. They also have a network of pilots for outsourcing. How does Tom use Lidar or why do people hire him to do Lidar? Surveyors may feel Tom is doing his/her work, but Tom says he actually cuts that surveyor’s costs. For example, with a difficult job, he can use Lidar to get topographical data much more quickly. It’s really rich data, carpeting the ground. Surveyors can use it to create 3D point data in a survey program and then do topographical maps. They can also screen through the trees. So they do the work for the surveyor’s programs and save them time. For landowners, for example, their drone can get 4-6 points of accuracy for a prospective buyer. This information can be gotten fairly quickly without paying for a survey. Developers and builders can find something later that makes their project more difficult, so Tom helps them avoid problems.  Tom works with surveyors and builders alike—builders see the immediate economic benefit, surveyors may be not as receptive as quickly. Tom’s partner also has a lot of ties into the real estate industry, which gives them easier entry into that business. So Tom’s advice is to have ties but also, to get business, since drones are really just a way of getting a camera or sensor into a way that it hadn’t before, he says that business owners need to focus on what they will provide. Through experience, he says SwampFox has defined the best business model for them. They are also trying to get themselves into easier and regular jobs to offset the Lidar jobs. “Make sure you keep your drones in the air; the lower-end applications are a more predictable revenue stream. Focus on the product.” How Lidar jobs are typically priced depends on the accuracy and the processing. For example, flat land is less complex and less costly. If they have to do a tree survey, they price it by the day, as well as how much processing they’ll put into it. They’ve had jobs for $20,000/day or less than $10,000/day and the much of that goes to the processor. Questions to consider for pricing are: Who puts out boundaries? Who does process control? Are diagrams necessary? Tom says the irony is that the jobs they’ve charged the most, they’ve made the least amount of money. David says it’s good for people to understand what the investment Tom made nets him in general; for Tom, this is still part of his learning curve. The biggest or least expected challenge for Tom was finding the right partners. Because the industry is new and fragmented, there’s no one out there with brand recognition. Tom says he works a lot with competitors. It makes things fun but if you have a bad partner, there is a lot of strife and loss of money. Tom says anyone you partner with should be vetted and will do what they say they will do. Tom does not fly drones—they scare him. But he does go out on site to make sure he can see what’s happening. He wants to be able to explain things to customers. He’s been trained how to fly but he is not overly comfortable doing it. As President, he feels lucky that he has a great CEO because everything he’s doing is being done for the first time—insurance, taxes, agreements, etc. Tom says he has some big contracts they are competing for and may need subcontractors with specific experience. When they do big jobs, they have to recruits pilots from networks (see their Instagram page below for an application). Tom’s advice: “Find your niche and where you want to be and figure out your business around that. It’s easy to get caught up chasing different ideas and to lose focus. Balance interplay between ALL business opportunities and YOUR business opportunity.” Connect with Tom Website: www.swampfoxaerial.com Facebook: www.facebook.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com Instagram: www.instagram.com Swampfox Aerial Email: info@swampfoxaerial.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 2? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course (20% off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher Google Play Spotify TuneIn

31 Juli 201938min

Robert is Founder & CEO of Aerial Look, a service & technology company changing the way people experience real estate utilizing drone, 3D and VR technologies. Aerial Look has been in business for five years; they got into drone business early in game. They were developing hardware and software until he realized that, from having been in the real estate business, it would be a good tool for that industry. From 1-2 real estate videos per day, they quickly began being asked to do 5-10 per day. Keeping customers happy was taking time away from research and development on the drones so they had to pivot. They soon realized that the drone could be used to for content creation. Robert wants to be in the place in the market that he is the best product for the most competitive price. In real estate, no one wants to pay fees, so they had to change the way people experienced real estate. A drone operator needed to be able to do a drone video in under one hour. They went from drone exterior video to interior video. They took some high-priced US properties to get business in China. They now work with different builders and developers across the globe. When in manufacturing and research, he had a genius CEO who made a lot happen. They thought of many different applications and each application had to be scalable. They knew a rotor on the drone would help them go further. Another drone had a scanner that could be used for security certificates. They decided a few of these applications could be used for agriculture. This could be used to analyze the field in terms of watering, planting, etc. They then came up with a drone that could also go to disaster areas. All these areas were popular, but they were also expensive. They kept trying to find new ways to use the drone. As they got into drone services vs. drone research, they began focusing on real estate. As they became more involved in the industry, they saw themselves as not just a drone company, but a content creation, media or marketing company. The drone business is really a service business. “If you can build a service, then you build a market. If you start the service first, you don’t have to spend as much money to get the business because you offer a valuable service. With that, you build market share. With market share, you control things.” Robert implies that as soon as you take out a drone, people are interested, they want to know what you’re doing...that means you are constantly in front of a client base.  Robert says he had to utilize the market to build the business. By building partnerships, he built his name. He utilized the drone to build a market of new services for realtors. He then saw a market to do business with builders and now he rarely takes out a drone, yet it all came from the drone. Basically, he used the dron to get market share and then used marketing to get revenue streams outside the basic drone industry. Robert believes you must hustle but you don’t have to try so hard—if you have business skills, you are ahead of the game. If you see development, you shoot with the drone, you go home, do video and send it to the developer. You have to be creative. His business now has in-house deployment and they subcontract. They have added drone deploy and 3D services. They can also take on work anywhere in the world, because their drone operator network is large and they have exclusive rates. In his opinion, it’s a waste of time to go to a realtor, and ask what they need, he says he tells them what they need. Robert’s company also works on minimum deals and gets paid by a firm...sometimes on retainer. Robert says that even if you think what you charge is expensive, the truth is the firm is paying more than that in marketing—you just have to convince them that you can do it cheaper and provide more value. What Robert says works for him is that he finds the value of the service, then break it down to a per listing rate. From there, it’s easy to decide what to pay a subcontractor, he pays them more and then he has an ongoing valuable and stable relationship...what everyone wants. Robert has set up his company to get paid from conception, i.e. when a developer is buying land. He gets a pilot to fly a drone over the land and sends them video, which almost always turns into a deal. Then before models come in, they do CGI animation, virtual reality sales centers, etc. At the end the drone comes in for a final fly over of the community. In between, everything is being done on computer. They do 3D tours, neighborhood profiles, etc. and he uses all of this to help the client market the home, community, neighborhood, etc. “If you’re going to shot video and hand off to client, you will not stay relevant and you will not scale up because not everyone knows what to do with it.”  He started the drone company because he didn’t want to rely on other people. He knew he could do much better by putting the controls in his own hands. As a pilot, he would go into meetings, and help potential clients by telling them how this would change their market. He says doing it with confidence and providing the data creates opportunity and value. By thinking of how to enhance your business, and telling that to the client, they will pass on the information to look good to others. That’s another way that when you help people, that can be used to help you and them. He says he builds 10 times the value of something before he asks for the value of the service. The drone captures attention and he figures out how to use that. After a while of doing drones, Robert had to think of things on a different level. He knew there was value, but with scalability he knew he could turn hundreds or thousands into millions. In his opinion, people who get there have knowledge and determination. He would sell a meeting and figure it out as he’d go—not fake it as you make it—but figure it out as he went along. By doing that, he became better and more knowledgeable. He was forced to learn, and it became easy to give REAL value. For a new person entering the drone industry, Robert advises “Go To One To Reach 1000!” Anyone can be an influencer. Robert says, at an elementary school, he can see opportunity galore—athletics, drones in class, new school photography—people would be interested in seeing it. Robert would go to builder of school and give drone video as a gift. Then, Robert would ask how many more schools he is building. Then he would advise how to use the drone in other projects. He can come up with many ways to show how much money they could save with 3D maps, video, etc. Robert sees opportunity everywhere. As a businessman, Robert believes: “This is all common sense. Being a businessman is about being hunting to feed yourself—not just with nutrition, but financially, emotionally, and physically. It’s in all of us, you just have to want to go do it.”  Connect with Robert Website: www.aeriallook.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com Aerial Look Email: info@aeriallook.com Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/aeriallook Instagram: www.instagram.com/aeriallook Facebook: www.facebook.com/aeriallook Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 2? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy

25 Juli 201947min

David is a pilot with Robotic Air Services, a startup in Southern California that focuses on the construction industry—providing drone services using a subcontractor business model that, David says, works. Let him tell you how and why... Two yrs ago, David was working in construction with architecture background. Drones came on the scene and he saw need in as-builts and during construction needs. He became excited and started to put some interest into drones. Are they effective? Can they deliver? Could he create a profitable company? The following year, he built up the company which went full-time in June 2018 and David never looked back. It DID take his own initial investment (he took Drone Launch’s Part107), and he is now profitable. He goes to network events to educate people on what can be done with drones. It works—with a LOT of legwork. David says if you’re going to get into an industry, you need to know how to approach a niche market. For example, architecture is narrow, and marketing takes a lot of thought. He advises that you laser-focus on that. When he tells people he’s a drone pilot, people ask if he works for the army. He responds that he flies a “friendly” drone and is in construction. When he explains further, he says they are amazed. Everyone he talks to leads to something or someone else. When he started out, he had his equipment ready and his business ready. He had a LONG conversation with his CPA. David says—for him—he needed to cut the cord as an employee. If not, he would never have bitten the bullet. He DOES say, “Don’t do what I did, don’t jump off the board unless you know how to swim!” He says what he has going on right now works 75%; he has other plans for the rest of his success plan—risks never go away. Start-Up Equipment His initial equipment was a MavicPro. He jumped in understanding what he wanted to achieve with mapping and point clouds and that was the best drone at that time. He flew his drone for months before committing to the business. He did a lot of investigation by flying a few hundred hours over a few months. He did mapping, flying with intention of creating a point cloud, which is when you fly drone over a site in a grid pattern. He knew targeting a 3D model was going to be the goal. He had to be able to crunch data or deliver a CAD drawing. He says he got great training from Drone Launch Academy, especially as pertains to understanding the weather to fly the best pattern. The orthomosaic map is only the first level. What’s Happening Now? David wants to get into mining and civil construction. He is educating his current clients that the imagery is not just a flat map, but how they can use more of the data. Mapping usually hands off to general contractor. In one of his client’s cases, a general contractor questioned the civil engineer, so he hired David to fly a drone and map the site. He found out that, in some cases, the measurements were off by almost 3 feet. With the drone imagery the measurements are nailed more accurately. He sees this type of work as great opportunity because every time you are called in to work, you can educate people as to how much the drone can help them. “Education is the biggest thing in the drone business” Where Are The Clients? Getting clients is about talking to people and also about how and where to find business. David had to understand what he wanted to accomplish and the niche market, for him—architecture, engineering and construction. You don’t just buy a drone and get business. You have to put work and effort into it. He said you have to learn everything about an industry to talk to people on their level. If you are going into cinematography, he hopes you know how to take great pictures. It’s not putting the drone into the air that’s the hard part, it’s about knowledge about how to make it work as a business. David thinks through everything before the flight. It’s already been set up and checked so when the flight comes, it’s just the push of a button. First Projects & Growth Since going full-time, company started to make money positively in December, passing investment level in January. It only took two months for investment to be re-couped. He doesn’t want to put out numbers because in Southern CA, it’s expensive to live and work. He does say that his first bit of work was done pro-bono, but with organizations that matter. He worked with an organization that preserves portions of land. He asked about the quality of their map imagery. He offered to fly and provide imagery because they are a volunteer association. He says he wanted to begin by giving back FIRST before he focused on developing clients and his own business. That got his name out there and also allowed him to practice in the real world, delivering real world work to real world people. When he delivered, he asked who they knew that he could talk to. Doing that work gave him a portfolio of real work. David’s favorite part of having his own business is being his own boss. There’s nothing better. That also means you are responsible for yourself and it takes self-responsibility. He has to make his own rules, book business. If you crash, you are your own repairman. You are in complete control of your destiny. It’s great and can be terrifying. Yet he wouldn’t change much nor does he regret much. He has been advised to seek venture capital, but then he’d have to focus more on the business, but then you lose autonomy. If you start a corporation, again it goes back to having a really great niche. David says what he is just another contractor—HE can go out and talk to people, that is good enough. Running his own business just makes it less complicated. He just wants to run and grow a good business. His long research period told him real money in drones would be in construction and inspections...simply because it will save money. Connect with David David's email: david@roboticairservices.com David's Website: www.roboticairservices.com Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 2? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course (20% off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher Google Play Spotify TuneIn

16 Juli 201951min

Bill is a UAS Solutions Director, Professional Drone Pilot and Owner/President of Eagle Eyes UAS About Bill Bill says he’s always been kind of a techno nerd. While working a project in Florida several years ago, he came across a professional pilot who was someone he perceived as worth knowing. “I kept his information and then when I moved over to the area where he lives, I looked him up and I said, 'Hey, what are you doing?' He told me he was in the drone industry. As someone who believes in going after technology when it first comes out (even though not perfected) drones had already caught my attention.” Bill’s contact then started sharing ideas of what he was doing. With a background in sales and marketing, Bill saw an opportunity to be in the beginning of an industry which, if done right, he could really do well with it. So Bill started working with his connection for about a year, not making a lot of money but learning from his business skills, about drones and orthomosaic imagery. He then took the Part 107 and did very well. Starting A Business What happened next was ironic. Bill had branched out on his own doing inspection work of the damage after Hurricane Irma. Bill felt himself an apprentice of drone work during this time. He learned about a variety of different equipment and he learned just by flying drones. “The learning experience was mostly good...a few bad. There's never a dull moment. To me, flying a drone is somewhere between super exciting and terrifying.” At that point, Bill’s inspection work wasn’t for insurance companies, because insurance companies, like many industries, know that drones exist, but they don't know how they can benefit them. Bill said it took time for people to embrace and understand drones. According to Bill “Your job is going to be more on educating than flying a drone. You need to become a master educator and someone who can explain whatever industry vertical market you're going into. You need to be able to explain 'what's in it for me?', 'why do I need this technology?' 'How is it going to make my life better?' We understand it as pilots and we learn it more and more every day. We learn new applications and we read about them. But the bottom line is you've got to become good at educating people and making it simple. Don't get complicated. With most people, the simple aspect of how this can help them on their job or business is where you're going to gain customers.” Bill started out with a Phantom 3. He understood orthomosaic imagery and had been flying enough. “I already had one drone stuck in the tree and then another one I whacked it into a wall. It was a friend's and broke off the camera. You do these things and you not only learn to fly drones but not to fly it where there's a lot of trees.” Bill’s Simple Marketing Advice Bill suggests you learn the basics before trying to get fancy--things can happen. Bill literally started in the community where he lives. The manager asked what he would charge for it, told him to do some before/after pictures of their pool project and even suggested he charge $1,000. That’s how he came up with a per acre rate for doing orthomosaic imagery. He flew again and again. Then he literally went down the street and knocked on the doors of the managers of other buildings. He got into a couple of them; he did some research online. “One called another and told another and then I had four associations that wanted to hire me—all of a sudden I was busy. Then I started calling up other community association managers, you know, just googling names. Through picking up the phone and calling people or driving by with some marketing material, I just kept sharing what I could do.” The Secret To Roofing Inspections Bill says that in South Florida you can't get a roofer to come out and inspect only 2-3 association buildings. If  you have 20 buildings on your site, you don't want to send your maintenance guy up there to walk around and see what kind of structural damage there is because the potential for him to break a leg, or fall off while trying to take pictures is ridiculous. “When I explained that I could fly a 20 acre location in 30 minutes and in 24 hours I could give them detailed pictures of damage on the rooftops---they got excited. Without exception, I hand-delivered the results via thumb drive. They were blown away because I showed them how they could literally use the snipping tool on a windows PC and take each individual roof mark up where the damage is, but, more importantly, they could see which one needed immediate attention, where they might want to throw a tarp on and which didn't need any attention.” Bill found out this was important because after it rains, water intrusion would further damage the building. That was one of the best things that could happen because he could sell the before and after so they could do a comparison and show insurance companies how it worked. Bill’s advice, if you’re seriously looking at this business, is, “If you're a shy introverted person, you're going to have to change that; this business requires you to go out there and talk. But here's the thing, if you were educating yourself on drone technology and what they're capable of doing, and you can get a few neat stories under your belt and people are going to be interested in this. I just did a continuing education class that I got certified for." Expansion Is About Educating And Helping Others With Good Ideas “The class I teach is everything you always wanted to know...you're going to know more than 99% of the people on Earth about drones. I show them all kinds of neat things. If you're going out there selling insurance or credit card processing, you're going to get beat up. Go out there and talk to people about drones and specifically what they can do for them. Give them good examples.” For example, every seven years a high rise gets a paint job. Typically, they'll go out and get a paint job quote but once they get up there and start painting and see damage, it could double or triple in price. So I suggested, why not inspect the building every couple of years, take some HD photos, some 4K video, up and down, get some roof shots of chillers and AC equipment, etc.” Bill made phone calls to a list for one area. He set up meetings left and right. Since starting that, he’s done at least $10,000 in business in that segment alone. Now, he’s beginning to get traction through referrals. For this type of work, on the low end, Bill can make $650. The high end could be anywhere between $1,000-2000. Bill charges $400/hour pending on what he does. For video editing, he can charge $100/hr. For bigger or multiple buildings, there's more money to be made. All Bill does, he says, is to show them examples of what he’s done for other people and how he found problems in places that nobody would ever see.  According to Bill, that’s just one vertical market to look into. You have to determine what your market is. David agreed, “When you find these little problem points and then you educate people about how these drones can help save a bunch of money and heartache...once you get in and you just start talking to people, you're able to see more of the issues and problems. THEN your brain starts moving and thinking about how you can help and solve that for them.” “We’re here to solve problems. You find problems by going out and talking to people. I always tell people the drone is just the vehicle. It could be a big drone, small drone. It can be this drone, that drone. There are a lot of great drones out there that take super good photos. But just because you go out to buy a drone does not make you a business. You need to solve problems. You need to be a business person about it. You need to know everything from being incorporated, to having a business bank account to managing and writing invoices for customers.” Potential In...

10 Juli 201944min