How much money can you make with a drone

Recent Posts View all. The FAA issued over , Part certificates within two years of establishing the Part rules for commercial drone operations. If you want to make money flying a drone independently in the sUAS world, you will need to build your reputation! With all that competition, this leads many drone pilots to go into business for themselves rather than compete on job boards. Step 2.

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The world is full of unusual and unexpected ways to make money. One such option is the chance to make money with your drone. But, it is still a viable way to make some cash. This can also be a fun idea if you enjoy using your drone so much that you’d like to learn more about it and spend your spare time becoming a better drone operator. As a result, there is more potential in this field than you might initially expect.

What Equipment You Need to Make Money with Your Drone

Flying drones was a hot trend a few years ago. Some people think drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles UAV , are just toys. That statement is true to some extent because you can do a lot of fun things with it. For instance, you can create beautiful pictures with your family and friends during your vacations or getaways. You also can create stunning videos and capture events from unique angles.

#1. Earn money selling aerial photos and footage

By V Kadamatt Buying Guides. Drones are becoming ever more popular and with it come new opportunities. Want to make money with a drone?

Now is certainly the time! How would you like to make money with your cool little flying machine? But how do you get there?

How do you get your first paying gig? What are the equipment you will need? What is the groundwork you need to lay before you can make money with a drone? This article will answer all of the above questions. Read on, if you want to make money with your drone! Do you need the most expensive drone out there to get started? Most certainly not! In fact, if you are just getting started, getting the best drone possible is probably not the best decision in terms of budgeting, especially if it is limited.

If you want to make money with a drone, you have to plan wisely as a beginner. That being said, a hobby grade quadcopter will definitely not cut it even if you are starting out in the advertising line and you will need something powerful enough to handle marketable photography and video.

So what are your options, really? The following are some examples of minimum budget as of you. These are of course, rough examples and prices are subject to change but as you can see, the budget varies significantly. What niche you intend to go into to make money with a drone will ultimately determine how much you end up paying for your drone. Of course, if you get a cheaper drone like the Phantom 3 4K, you may have to upgrade rather quickly in order to expand your client base and to be able to fly year-round in every possible weather conditions.

If your budget is limited, you can get away with it, but getting something in the Inspire series will make you future proof, in case you want to quickly expand the work you do into action sports and film making. Like the drone itself, the accessories you need to make money with a drone will entirely depend on the niche you will get. Below is a rough list. Do you need to get certified to make money with a drone? Do you need the Part certification? Short answer is, yes.

To qualify for a remote pilot certificate Partan individual must either pass an initial aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved knowledge testing center or have an existing non-student Part 61 pilot certificate. So what do you do? Simple — study and pass for the Part certification exam and get certified. The FAA has put up a study guide. However, this might not be enough and some questions can take you by surprise.

We highly recommend the Drone Pilot Ground School. Though it costs some money, it will almost certainly guarantee a pass which is far better than spending money and time to retake the test multiple times! While you do not have to be a drone Jedi masterwe recommend you at least have a year worth of practice flying under your belt before you try and sell your services in order to make money with a drone. In the meantime, you should focus on building relationships in the niche of your picking.

Another skill recommended while going about trying to make money with a drone is to know how to maintain and repair your drone in case something goes wrong. Think of it this way — Consider that you have the option to hire two drivers. Both of them are great drivers, but one of them has the skill to work under the hood and fix things if something goes wrong with your car. Who would you hire? Most of us would pick the one with the extra skill! Drones are much like vehicles in this regard.

While flying to make money with a drone, any number of things can go wrong to impede your project including broken or unbalanced props, broken motors, gimbal obstructions, body imbalances and many other malfunctions. While you do not need to have the technical know how on how to engineer a drone or program a flight controller, you will be at a significant advantage if you know how to assemble a drone kit into a fully functional drone.

Flying skills are of course, not the only thing you will need to have in order to make money with a drone.

Whatever niche you pick, you need to develop specific skill sets for that niche. This is where you should start small. For example, unless you have been doing aerial videography for a long time, you should probably steer clear of trying to get into action sport cinematography. The ideal place to start for a beginner with absolutely no niche specific skills would be something like real estate photography and other types of advertising.

You could be the best drone operator in the world and be the best in your niche in terms of technical skills but if you are not willing and cannot market and sell your services you are probably not going to make money with drones.

At least not. Starting a drone service business is no different from other businesses. You need to have a framework for getting clients, closing the sale for your services, retaining them and scaling to ensure that your business grows.

Landing a few gigs here and there may be great to make some pocket money to buy a new TV, but if you want to make a living, you NEED to know how to market and sell. If however, your goal is to simply make some pocket money, you may try out online services like DroneBase. Not only because will you earn more, you will OWN your clients and your business. As humans, we make mistakes. This is true even for skilled, professional pilots in the business.

Playing around with drones as a hobby itself is no risk free joke, let alone flying for commercial use! Large lawyer fees and spending a fortune on paying fines is a risk that drone pilots will always be taking, just by merely flying.

Getting a drone insurance will provide you protection against accidental damages caused by your drone third party liability claims and to the drone. How much coverage you should go for will entirely depend on the type of clients and the type of work you do, of course. It is important then, to consider potential risks and go for a policy that reflects your needs. If you are using multiple drones, you will have to cover them separately!

There are many companies that offer drone insurance policies. Following are some examples we are not affiliated with any of them and it is by no means a comprehensive list.

If you love flying drones and RC crafts and love the idea of making money flying a drone, there is no better time to start your drone service business. The FAA has finally regulated the commercial drone market under part Aspiring commercial pilots have to take the FAA part test and pass it, in order to operate drones legally.

This has removed the skepticism in hiring drone pilots. Moreover, since the regulation has only been passed, the industry is still in its early stages and the competition has not peaked as of. The barrier to entry in terms of initial costs is at an all-time low.

You also do not even need an office or a bunch of employees. With proper client-getting framework in place, you can be a successful lone-wolf drone pilot and make money flying a drone. One of the most common and lucrative ways to make money with a drone is to get a job.

For many of you out there, marketing and running your own business might be a challenge. If this is the case, then you might want to get a drone job instead. If you want to make money flying a drone independently in the sUAS world, you will need to build your reputation! With the increase in demand for piloting instructions, becoming a drone instructor is an excellent path to take to make money with a drone if you have the necessary skills, certifications and reputation.

If you go the independent route, you can either choose to instruct your clients in a one on one basis or setup an online course or start a blog of your. Online course platforms like Udemy are a great way to market your course materials.

You can also choose to work full time as a drone instructor for a drone institution, provided you have built the necessary portfolio. Companies that manufacture drones for different fields like agriculture, search and rescue operations and military look for drone pilots capable of instructing their clients on how to fly their crafts safely.

With engineering qualifications, you can work in product development, technical support, UAV maintenance technician or QA. Research is another option. Recommended : If how much money can you make with a drone are just starting out and want to get a feel for the type of work you might have to do AND you are in the US, check out DroneBase. How do you start and get successful in the drone service business industry?

Pick a niche and focus all your efforts into it. If you want to make money with your drone, you must build your skills, relationships and build clients in that niche. Do not think you can do everything at once, especially if you are just starting. The biggest mistake you can do is to dilute your efforts by spreading too. If you are just starting out and do not have spectacular flying or other skills specific to a niche, then you should pick a niche that is suitable for you.

Real estate photography for example has a much lower barrier to entry in terms of skill compared to action sports cinematography or power line inspections. The amount you can charge your clients will of course, be directly proportional to your skill set, but remember that there is always a starting point to. You absolutely do not have to wait until you learn every possible skill before you can start your own drone service business. In fact serving customers is probably the best way to improve your existing skills and build your portfolio.

You can always move into a different, more skill demanding work later on in your drone career. If you are just starting out, the best way for you to get into the game of making money with drones is to offer your service to potential clients for free or for an incredibly low price. Obviously, you are not running a charity so you will have to make it clear to your clients that they will have to pay for your services if they want more from you.

Back to all posts. Drome field to look into and that can be quite profitable is the surveillance industry. No Comments Join the mhch Leave a comment. Companies that manufacture drones for different fields like agriculture, search and rescue operations and military look for drone pilots capable of instructing their clients wih how to fly their crafts safely. Most people usually use these drones just to have fun, to enjoy flying and to take photos or make aerial videos. And if so, how exactly? These cameras are even mucy effective in some circumstances for aerial surveillance and monitoring. Skip Navigation. Another possibility to earn money with aerial footage is to launch your own YouTube channel and post the videos captured by your drone. Do not think you can do everything at once, especially if you are just starting. Drones built for filming how much money can you make with a drone with a high-quality camera but slow are very different from racing drones built for durability and speed and surveying drones designed to carry specialized equipment, like a LIDAR unit. A job is always more rewarding when you know you are helping people! Buy Now! However, you should consider that there are a myriad of different clients you can serve in this sector and that includes: Real estate and other types of advertising think resorts and hotels Most recommended for beginners Weddings Recommended for beginners News agencies Film making Action-sports The flying, photography, videography and editing skills you will need in mufh line of work will vary greatly with the type of client you serve.