Guys, the information you have just posted is very valuable to yourself as well as all of us other Drone Operators that even consider trying to break into the business.
THANK YOU!!!
Can you also offer us advice on what type of volunteer work we may be able to do in order to get more experience! I will be blunt, I have only been flying since April due to my drone not working when I first tried it. I run a golf course and bought it to use in mapping out my course and possibly making a few videos for our website. I had given thought of getting into the business to make some money to offset my expenditures or even to make a good retirement job. I will be getting a license as soon as I can get the experience and expertise to warrant it. I would like to know if I can offer my services to help me get the needed hours and exposure.
I do not want to do freebee work that would take business away from others but rather maybe work that may help the community. What might you recommend or not recommend.
To be honest I do not think I have any pilots in my area other than smaller hobby drones.
Well, that freebie job I did last Friday was for the secretary of a group that does conservation work on some historic moorland near to where I live. The job was to get some photographs or an area of the moor where it is planned to plant a lot of trees. The group doesn't have much of a budget and certainly would not have been able to pay for the services that I, or any other pilot, can offer. So doing a freebie for them would definitely not have taken work from anyone else.
As I've said previously, having done a couple of freebie jobs in the past that, as far as I could tell, didn't result in any extra work, I had decided not to do any more freebies. I decided to give it another shot last Friday since I happen to know that the pictures I took will be seen by Manchester Forestry who will be overseeing the tree planting, and the local authority among others, so should give some good exposure.
My advice to you, then, is that if you do decide to do a couple of freebies and not risk taking that work from others, then steer clear of the corporate sector and look at 'not for profit' organisations similar to the one I did that job for last Friday. Be sure, though, that any work you do for them will give you good exposure by having your credited work shown on their well visited web site and get them to share that work with other (preferably) not for profit organisations. That way, if you do it before you get a licence (in the U.K. we don't call it a licence. here it's called a permission), then you won't fall foul of any 'consideration' issues, while still getting some exposure. Remember, though, to retain copyright so that you have a say in where and how those images are used.