Making money with your Mavic?

[NaiveFlight]

Just curious how this drone thing is for making money. This is my hobby and I have a job that I wouldn't trade for anything else. I'm just curious how you can make money with a drone ans about how much is made for a *job*, and what does that job consist of?

 

[Zoso]

Real estate , Home Inspectors , Roof Inspections and so on ,,

 

[Plawa]

It's pretty much the same situation as with photography.. the cost of entry is now so small (relatively speaking) that anyone who tries can easily produce average results. Distinguish yourself from the crowd and people will notice but don't expect anyone to throw money at you only because you have a drone and you can fly it.

//Yoda out.

 

[Drones Ace]

It's pretty much the same situation as with photography.. the cost of entry is now so small (relatively speaking) that anyone who tries can easily produce average results. Distinguish yourself from the crowd and people will notice but don't expect anyone to throw money at you only because you have a drone and you can fly it.

//Yoda out.

how would you distinguish yourself??

 

[Dronewerkz]

What do people charge for various things?

 

[jamesd94]

Just curious how this drone thing is for making money. This is my hobby and I have a job that I wouldn't trade for anything else. I'm just curious how you can make money with a drone ans about how much is made for a *job*, and what does that job consist of?

You can check out this Book on making money with a drone. It gives you 10 different ways you can monetise your drone and a bit about how to go about marketing yourself. Hope this helps

 

[Chirp]

It's pretty much the same situation as with photography.. the cost of entry is now so small (relatively speaking) that anyone who tries can easily produce average results. Distinguish yourself from the crowd and people will notice but don't expect anyone to throw money at you only because you have a drone and you can fly it.

//Yoda out.

There is some good advice here. In reference to the "cost of entry" being low I can remember paying about $750 each just for the film holders/backs for my Hasselblad medium format film cameras--I needed at least 3. A fisheye lens (18mm if I remember correctly) was over $3.000.00. In total I had about $20K in just that camera system. I was a commercial photographer/aerial photographer from 1985 to 2000 when I sold the business. I used to hang out the window of a Cessna 172 for aerial photography jobs while flying the plane at the same time to save the cost of another pilot. I don't recommend it. Now you can get a decent camera that flies for $1,000.00!

In reference to Plawa's remark how to 'Distinguish yourself from the crowd', that is definitely necessary for success. Excuse me for ranting but this is a topic I feel qualified to talk about. From my days as a photographer until now in sales and customer service of point-of-sale systems. I don't consider myself qualified to give drone advice because I'm new to flying them and on my last outing I crashed into a pole! I'm waiting for the estimate from Thunderdrones. I hope it's not too bad...

Anyway, Drones Ace asked back in June, "How do you distinguish yourself?" from other drone pilots/companies.
Generally speaking it's the same way as for other service oriented companies--especially owner/operator companies like our drone businesses.
Here are some of my suggestions, speaking from experience.

• Be on time
• Dress and act professionally
• Listen carefully to what the customer wants and deliver that and maybe a little more if possible.
• Practice all aspects of your craft so you can be depended upon to produce a professional, finished product, on time with no excuses.
• Be honest. If the company you're working with is considering hiring you for repeat business you will possibly be tested.
  I am still surprised when this happens because it seems so obvious but it still happens.
  Maybe the best way to explain what I'm talking about is to tell you about this incident that happened to me about 3 weeks ago. I delivered and installed a point of sales system to a pizza shop. I was going to be there for a good week or so installing, setting up and programming the system. I had access to their cash register while it was full of money. One day the owner paid an employee in cash right in front of me. He handed the employee 5 $100 bills which the employee stuffed in his wallet. (The employee was the owner's son, that's how I know he was in on it). So the son laid the wallet on the counter right in front of me, with the Benjamins hanging half out of it and then everybody left the building! They all just left. I'm thinking really? Do I look that stupid? Anyway the next day they gave me a key to the pizza shop so I could come and go when the shop was closed to complete my installation. That must have been partly the reason for the test. I swear this is true and I could give you other examples but I won't bore you. I guess it's happened about 5 times in my career(s). Another test is getting overpaid. If you get paid more than the invoiced amount don't assume it's a tip. At least bring it to the attention of the person who signed the check. They may just want to know if it's safe to continue doing business with you in the future.
• Charge a price that's fair to you and your customer
• Oh yes, and perhaps maybe one of the most important lessons I have learned. If I could start over this is the one biggest mistake I personally made. Don't be afraid to say no. Don't be afraid to turn jobs down if you can't get a fair price or if it's going to make you work late and cut into your personal family life. Turn it down if it's going to make you rush on a job that is more lucrative and maybe cause you to deliver work that is below your usual standards for a regular customer.
  It's hard to turn down paying jobs but it's necessary for long term success if it's an inconvenience.
  I read somewhere if you don't want to do a particular job just double your price. Maybe in some instances that would be worth considering.
• Finally, there are companies that offer drone assignments on a spec basis. Try a few jobs in your area. You may or may not get paid. If the company is able to sell the job to their prospective client you will both get paid. This is a way to break into the business when you have nothing else going on. I did 4 or these to show the company that I was dependable. That's what happened to me and they started offering me paid assignments. Unfortunately the first one they assigned to me was a large commercial multi-site assignment. That's when I crashed into the pole I spoke about previously. I was afraid I'd look pretty dumb and they would drop me from their list but they have already offered me another job so I guess it wasn't too bad.
  I should mention here that even though I crashed (on the very first part of the job) I sent them the file, crash and all, to show them I did show up on time and attempted the mission. They are very strict on 'attendance' and I didn't want them to think I never showed up and used 'crashed' as an excuse.
• OK I'm finished rambling and I went way past the topic of 'how to distinguish yourself' but like I said this is a topic near and dear to me and I'm glad to share it with anyone who will listen.