Profit making is all about what you have in mind, at hand and how you use both. Drones are one of today’s products of great technological minds and there are numerous ways to make money using them. This, however, is highly dependent on your proficiency to use these unmanned vehicles and your desire to go for it. Here are some tips on how you can make money using your drone.
1. Aerial Photography
A drone equipped with HD cameras and proper skills to fly and capture quality pictures is all you need to get some cash using your drone. There are many ways this is applicable. The first thing you need to do is find beautiful places where you can capture great and attractive pictures. These could be landscapes, buildings, nature, or just anything attractive.
You must be wondering what to do with the photos? This is where creativity comes in. You can create your own website or YouTube channel where you post your pictures and video footages. To monetize the channel, connect an AdSense account to the channel. Building a strong subscriber base depends on the quality of your content and how you manage the channel.
Better still, get out there, go to a beach, find a spot for yourself, take beautiful clicks, and sell them. You will be surprised how people will love your pictures as long as they are quality ones.
2. Aerial Survey
Land survey companies spend a lot of money and time gathering terrestrial information. The emergence of the remotely controlled unmanned vehicles (UAVs) is good news for them. With today’s drones having great flying capabilities, they offer services that nothing else can. Starting your own private aerial service company is a good start. Quality again matters here since these companies require high-quality footage and if you can’t offer that, there’s always someone else who can. Daily practice brings perfection, as they say, that’s why you need to have your own quality footage for advertisement.
3. Wedding Videography and Photography
Among the most treasured events in our lives are the days we officially get somebody to spend the rest of our lives with. Therefore, you’ll find photographers at almost every wedding to ensure memories are perfectly captured and preserved. Photographers are hired, and good ones for that matter, and sometimes they don’t capture every great and memorable moment. With aerial photography now made possible by drones, people are willing to part with their hard-earned money to get the best out of it. These kinds of gigs can bring a fortune with no struggles if you do it well.
However, these drones could hurt people in the process, ruin a whole event and even destroy your happy life. To avoid that, it is necessary to ensure you can comfortably fly the drones anywhere and anyhow and still ensure you capture perfect moments perfectly.
4. Search and Rescue Missions in Disaster Relief
Traditionally, rescue personnel and helicopters were employed for rescue missions in cases of disasters in inhabited areas where it’s impossible or too dangerous to travel by land. Sometimes, it’s too dangerous for human presence, especially where the natural environment is interfered with like in Japan where nuclear power melted down. Drones equipped with necessary tools are risk-free and thus preferred. Relief organizations hire drone owners who can do the job well for a good pay and could be an opportunity to earn some good cash.
5. Precision Agriculture
Large-scale farming could be costly to maintain. In the past, helicopters have been commonly used for spraying, crop inspection, and deliveries. These helicopters are quite expensive compared to drones. For relevance in this field, you need to equip your drone with hyper-spectral or RGB cameras to capture many images of a field that can be processed using photogrammetric methods to create maps.
6. Drone Flying Classes
The fact that you can expertly fly drones means you can teach interested people how to fly with ease. This is an opportunity you might not have probably thought about, but now you do. Having students could be difficult but with determination, strategy, and passion it is possible. Here, creativity is crucial. How you fly your drone, the small things you can do with your drone that other people can’t, will keep you ahead. Get out to the streets, organize drone competitions for kids and young people and eventually, people will come to you for it. You don’t need to start your company. Although, your drone might hurt someone in the streets that’s why having a legal cover is important.
7. Drone Delivery
Introduction of Prime Air Delivery by Amazon in 2016 commercialized the use of drones in an overwhelming way with most companies taking up the idea. These remotely controlled hobby-sized airplanes are fast, saving time and relatively cheaper. We are talking about an earning opportunity here for drone owners. Pay visits to those companies and let them know what you can offer and how it would benefit the company. Some of the places to visit include pizza shops, online shops, fast food shops that deliver to order, short distance parcel services or any other relevant company that may need drone delivery services.
8. Inspection
Imagine situations where people must crawl inside oily pipes to check or repair malfunctioning machinery. It is either very risky to human life, expensive or ineffective in the long run. Small UAVs provide risk-free, relatively cheaper and effective inspection services to oil and electrical companies. These companies hire expert drone owners for these kinds of inspection at a relatively cheaper cost than piloted helicopters. This doesn’t mean the pay is petty though.
9. Real Estate, Hotel or Resort Advertisement
In a time where every hotel or resort is striving to get a better advertising impression than its counterpart, there’s no better way to achieve that than showing off with a spectacular aerial video footage and pictures. Advertising agencies are looking for people who can take perfect video footages using their drones. You don’t need to be a registered company but a good rapport is quite essential. Good Photography skills and drone equipped with HD cameras is all you need to get a fortune.
There are many more ways to earn money using your drone. You just need to be creative, active and hard-working. You realize skills are essential in all the above-mentioned ways, thus practicing a lot; not only in flying the drone but also in camera control and photography and vice versa.
It is also advisable to register a private company if you’re serious about earning using your drone but not necessary if it’s just for fun. It’s also worth noting that these drones are prone to damages and hiring them is not profitable in the long run.
