Keep the dream alive

[JustJoshing]

Hey all,

I'm a 26 year old from Kansas. I quit my corporate job two years ago this month and have been travelling and living abroad for the past two years, making a modest income as a freelancer to keep me going. When I lived in Indonesia I had a blast filming professional surfers with drones. I also started a small business online publishing on Amazon Kindle (although this has run into problems in the last two months that I'm still working on fixing). Two years of experiencing the "other side" - being totally free to travel and enjoy life - and now I can't even fathom going back to a 9 to 5.

After returning to the US I decided to start a business here doing what I love, aerial photography. I've had my nose to grindstone - studying and passing the FAA Part 107 Exam, setting up a LLC, setting up the website, getting insured, etc. All the unsexy but necessary stuff. Here's what I have so far: Website
The website is way too simple right now. I'm going to continue adding and revising as I go. But I can at least start sending potential customers there to see my work. I also just ordered 500 business cards (I've been having to grit my teeth when folks ask for one...."Uhhhh, no sir I don't have a card, they're on their way!")

I've collaborated with two friends of mine who are salesmen and extremely well networked in the area. They were able to land me 4 customers in my first 5 days here, with a lot more potential clients lined up. I'm focusing almost exclusively on the real estate market as I'm finding that's where the $ meets the demand. Hoping things will start snowballing here soon, but trying to keep my expectations in check...

I'll probably update this once a week or so. Looking forward to feedback from the community here, some of which I know I've met during my travels.

All I'm after here is freedom!

 

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[Crossroads]

Hey all,

I'm a 26 year old from Kansas. I quit my corporate job two years ago this month and have been travelling and living abroad for the past two years, making a modest income as a freelancer to keep me going. When I lived in Indonesia I had a blast filming professional surfers with drones. I also started a small business online publishing on Amazon Kindle (although this has run into problems in the last two months that I'm still working on fixing). Two years of experiencing the "other side" - being totally free to travel and enjoy life - and now I can't even fathom going back to a 9 to 5.

After returning to the US I decided to start a business here doing what I love, aerial photography. I've had my nose to grindstone - studying and passing the FAA Part 107 Exam, setting up a LLC, setting up the website, getting insured, etc. All the unsexy but necessary stuff. Here's what I have so far: Website
The website is way too simple right now. I'm going to continue adding and revising as I go. But I can at least start sending potential customers there to see my work. I also just ordered 500 business cards (I've been having to grit my teeth when folks ask for one...."Uhhhh, no sir I don't have a card, they're on their way!")

I've collaborated with two friends of mine who are salesmen and extremely well networked in the area. They were able to land me 4 customers in my first 5 days here, with a lot more potential clients lined up. I'm focusing almost exclusively on the real estate market as I'm finding that's where the $ meets the demand. Hoping things will start snowballing here soon, but trying to keep my expectations in check...

I'll probably update this once a week or so. Looking forward to feedback from the community here, some of which I know I've met during my travels.

All I'm after here is freedom!

Welcome!

 

[JustJoshing]

Well overdue for an update...

First of all, thanks a million to everyone who's reached out to me privately with advice.

Got a few exciting customers! One is a real estate agent who wants drone photos of her listings. Awesome lady who I got from cold calling. I've done three jobs for her so far, working on the fourth and fifth. Should be a repeat customer going forward.

Next customer is a for-sale by owner. I took a drone video of their house and they LOVED it. I got the check for the aerial video, but the best part... they want me to make a full promotional video of their home with a walk-through of the interior...and offered me a 1% commission on their house! This house is going to sell for 800k-1M When they asked me this, that's when the light bulb went off. I'm pivoting here and expanding to something that offers a lot more value in the real estate market... walk-through videos / promotional videos, with aerial as an add-on. I did some research and there are businesses doing this:
http://pictureitsoldfl.com/full-motion-hd-videos/
http://nashuavideotours.com/
https://www.homejab.com/

After making the decision to pivot, I landed a gig with a local apartment complex. It's just one contract for now, but did some research and this place is owned by a $3B company that owns complexes in just about every college town in the US. Need to do a solid job on this video and the opportunity is there...

I'm still not happy with the website. Been too lazy to do much on it at all. Will probably wait until I have a promo video to showcase.

Beyond that, I recently partnered with an investor and want to start publishing on Kindle. It's just a side project right now but has the potential to turn Fastlane. Will have progress updates on that project once the dough starts coming in...

So 6 weeks in... Sleeping on a friend's couch, roughing it but this is what I signed up for

 

[ZF Lee]

Hey all,


The website is way too simple right now. I'm going to continue adding and revising as I go. But I can at least start sending potential customers there to see my work. I also just ordered 500 business cards (I've been having to grit my teeth when folks ask for one...."Uhhhh, no sir I don't have a card, they're on their way!")

Simple websites will be perfectly fine as long as it provides customers everything they need and it doesn't lag.
I don't use the official train ticket websites because they crash a lot! Performance is a key factor!
Put a testimonials page on your website to display the good fruits of your services.

As for business cards, it is possible to save up costs by using business cards apps? Doing everything virtual?

 

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