My experience of the business is not too dissimilar from that of
@thoneter and
@Dustoff . I started purely as a hobby flyer and went on to take my 'papers'. (not the 107 as you guys in the U.S. have to have: Here in the U.K. it's known as the PfCO). But when I got my PfCO I thought that the world would magically open regarding paid jobs. My experience, though, has been that paid jobs are no-where near as abundant as I wanted. It wasn't too bad at first but over the last year or so paid jobs have become less frequent. It would seem that these days organisations are doing their own work or are more frequently using pilots who don't have papers doing the work that are vastly undercutting the guys that are doing it legally. The illegal guys are charging rates for jobs that I simply can't compete with and cover my costs.
Indeed, if I was looking to get into the business now, I probably wouldn't. I believe that these days, a small one-man business employing UAVs is simply not viable, at least not here in the U.K. Not when some dude down the road is prepared to throw his aircraft into the air for what amounts to little more than just beer money. For example, the last job I did earned me just £110.00...about half of what I would have liked to charge for a similar job. People simply won't pay what I regard as the 'going rate' when they can get their job done by Joe Bloggs for a swift £20.00.
Regarding Pro-bono work: Good idea in theory, and I've done a couple...and indeed have one job booked in early August. But my experience in doing freebies is that I've not noticed a tangible difference in work generated from them. Maybe it has made a difference, but not one that I can point too.
So, Yes, I've done the marketing. Sent post cards out to organisations, produced show-reels, had business cards printed, done a couple of freebies, but folk just aren't prepared to pay my rates when they can get Joe blogs to undercut me massively or just do the job themselves.
My advice, should you wish to take it, is to think long and hard before setting up your business. Only do so if you are very confident that you will get the work at reasonable rates...rates that will cover your outlay, all of your outlay. If you aren't confident in covering your costs and turn at least a small profit, then don't do it. Just have fun as a hobby flyer.
My PfCO is due for renewal in early November. I'm currently seriously considering not to renew...the jury is still out, so to speak.
