So, I'm 16 years old and run a small "business" essentially buying and reselling things. I've been interested in starting a drone "business" ever since I was 13 but have been restricted because the minimum age is 16 (or 15, can't remember anymore). Anyway, I'm wondering if it would be wise to use all of the money I've made and purchase an
Air 2S since I already bought the Part 107 course from Pilot Institute, or should I continue to "invest" my money until I have enough to purchase a drone and continue with the re-selling venture.
I am a professional photographer, I occasionally teach photography classes in my area, and I have my own business. That being said, none of that is my primary source of income because it's simply not lucrative (that should tell you something right there if you are thinking of this more as a long-term career
) Every area is different though - if you are in a smaller town or something, competition will be a lot less (but so will business). I know you're only 16 and probably aren't looking at this venture the same way, but the number of people making good money on photography/videography of any kind is extremely small relative to the number of people doing it. That being said, as a side gig or something like that, it's much more reasonable, especially if you enjoy it.
The best advice I can give is the following as most of it applies to drone usage as well:
1) Everyone and their dog can buy a drone (or camera) and start charging money for services, and there will always be someone cheaper than you. You need to find a way to stand out, and you need to be
really good or people will just move on to the next option. If you try to stand out by being cheap, you are the only one who loses in that scenario because it's very time consuming work. In my opinion you should not start a business without confidence that you are as good or better than the competition in your area, otherwise what incentive do people have to use your services. YouTube is an incredible resource for everything from technical training to editing skills to compositions and story telling - there is no need to pay a dime for courses unless you are the type that cannot easily learn outside of a classroom environment.
2) You need an extensive portfolio - think of it from the point of a view as a customer. Why should they pick you over the other 100 people offering the same thing in your area? How will they know what kind of end result to expect? Try to think of reasons people may not choose to use your services, and figure out ways to remedy that. Know your competition and have an impressive portfolio.
3) You need good marketing if you want business beyond word-of-mouth. This means an excellent website, a social media presence, and good search engine optimization. Invest in a website domain name and a matching email so everything looks professional (eg. name(at)Bsauceimages.com). Business cards are dirt cheap and you can use online services like fiverr to have branding/logos made up for next to nothing. If you don't want a lot of business because you are also focusing on school, for example, then this is less important but you should at minimum have a website. Wix and Squarespace are cheap and excellent - you can make a very professional looking website easily with their templates.
4) You need to be
very good at editing / post processing. Most people overlook this and it is
by far the most difficult and time consuming aspect of any kind of photography or videography. This is also the best opportunity to make yourself stand out and a big part of what can potentially set you apart from the competition. This also means an investment in a PC capable of doing so quickly (time is money) and the appropriate backup solutions (something like Blackblaze is ideal and very cheap). You never want to be delivering straight-out-of-camera photos or footage - anyone can do that.
5) Equipment absolutely does matter. Good composition and whatnot can only take you so far (and are the easiest to learn in my experience - YMMV) but things like post processing leeway are greatly affected by having the right equipment for the job and if clients end up wanting prints/enlargements it becomes even more important to be using the right equipment. This goes hand-in-hand with post processing skills. The same goes for the PC side if you value your time while editing. Also, in my experience anyway, most clients expect you to be using professional-grade equipment if they're paying you for work and your competition likely will be using job-appropriate equipment as well. This doesn't mean you need to have go out and spend $15K on an
Inspire2 setup, but make sure you are using quality equipment that does not hold you back in any area, especially in post processing. The
Air2S is a good start for sure.
Also, just being honest, some people are going to have a problem associating your age with quality work, and the best tool you can have to overcome that is an outstanding portfolio. This means lots of work before you start charging money for your services to prove to customers that you're worth their money. You can also offer free or extremely cheap work for practice and portfolio building, as well as getting your name out there.
Anyways, good for you for coming on here and trying to learn before just jumping into something. You're already ahead of many others in that respect. I wish you the best of luck and feel free to reach out anytime.
