With the prices of drones these days, there’s not much risk involved in an endeavor like this. Yes, you’ll need to study for the test, become familiar with air space, maps, and far more knowledge than you’d ever think you’d have to know to fly a drone. But once you have your certification, there are an endless amount of opportunities. I just bought a DJI Mavic Pro in December and it’s already paid for itself 10x over with some real estate shoots. I have other plans for the drone but it’s so cheap ($1,000) that it’s hardly a risk if you’re considering using it commercially.
With ever photographer, and wannabe photographer, having an easy to fly drone these days this market must be pretty saturated. I'd be curious how "endless" these opportunities are. If something is easy to do there's always tons of people willing to do it, usually for less than I..
Great point, no doubt. The barrier to entry that keeps most folks out at this point is a) the certification, and b) the lack of willingness to research the certification. Most folks lose interest when they realize there’s red tape to get through. It’s a constantly evolving industry and the endless opportunities will quickly begin disappearing with time. It may seem that the drone market is saturated, but it’s all relative. It’s only going to continue growing, and these years will seem like the very beginning of an era, like looking back at AOL and Netscape Navigator today.
For real estate, I charge $300 for 20 minutes of flight, and an hour of editing, which pans out to a decent hourly rate. We’re also incorporating the drone into our wedding photography, which runs $500 per hour. We live in a ranching community as well, and there are opportunities to now herd cattle with drones, as well as finding cattle amongst the 10,000 acre ranches and BLM leases. And I have a friend using a drone in his residential and commercial inspection business, though I couldn’t tell you what kind of money is in that industry.
Those are just a small handful of ideas. I’m sure the folks around here could come up with far more creative and innovative ways to make money with drones.
In another 5 or 10 years, it may be too saturated or too regulated, as you suggest. But in the meantime, for a $1,000 investment, it’s not a huge risk to see what kind of return on investment you can make.
