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New short film "Autumn Fires". Filmed entirely with the Mavic Pro. Polar Pro ND Filters.

You are required to follow the instructions on the COA, no more, and no less. I have COAs that require a phone call and others that require checking and adhering to the ceilings defined in the UFM and no other requirements. So, read your COA and do what it says and that's it.

Hi @Alex Martin, Welcome to the UAV Coach Community Forum! Thanks for sharing your video with us, it was very well done and I really enjoyed the low flying shots over the rocks and the leaves. Fall is one of the best seasons in my opinion for some epic drone footage. Nicely done! - Chase

Thank You so much for your insight. I look forward to getting my cup of coffee on Saturday mornings and firing up your newsletter. I got a bonus video this morning. My son and I are Part 107 certified. I have a aviation background as an airline captain. My son is probably the youngest drone pilot in the state of Kansas. Thanks Again Theresa

Took a cruise to Alaska. Not a lot of aerial, but lots of planes and ships...

If you are a flight director and are concerned that your operators are getting proper authorization when needed, why not just have them submit copies of their authorizations in any area requiring them? No apps required at all. Seems fairly simple to me.

Hi @Shaun Deardorff, Welcome to the forum and congratulations on recently becoming Part 107 Certified! I am in a similar situation as I have started to build my drone service company. I have been working overtime building out every aspect of the business so when I start to get clients (I actually just received an email from a potential client as I type this) I have all of the systems in place for a smooth customer experience. The first piece of advice I will offer you is to come up with a unique name that will stand out among your competitors. I have seen countless times where I see ten drone companies with similar names. Having a generic company name makes it very easy for a potential client to forget who you are. A great logo is also just as important as it conveys to your customers what you do and who you are. I decided to name my company Galactic Droneography and made my slogan "Out of this world Droneography" I have had many people tell me how much they loved the name and logo design. I tell you this to show the importance of standing out with creative branding. @Alan Perlman is correct on the importance of getting a website up as quickly as possible with a portfolio for potential clients. Even if you only have a few photos it is a start, just make sure you put up your best work. Sqaurespace is a great option for a website, I personally used Wix and have been very happy with it. I can't speak for all of the SquareSpace features but on Wix it will pull the colors from your logo and helps you set up a nice looking website that looks like your brand. Or you can do what I did and make your own design in the Wix Editor. My first version of my website was very basic and that's okay because you can always go back and revise the design and order of the pages later. I have lost count on how many times I have revised my website. Here is my website if you would like an example: https://www.galacticdroneography.com Its important that everything you do has a similar design style. Whether it's a Facebook cover photo, website, YouTube Banner, it should all reflect your brand and be easily identifiable. As for looking for clients, always be researching and thinking about who your clients could be. Instead of targeting realtors, I have been reaching out to custom home builders. This is more of a niche portion of the market but it shows custom home builders the importance of having aerial images and videos when the showcase the homes they build. You can also offer to take progress videos or photos of home build for project management and promotional purposes. I have built out a spreadsheet in Google Sheets with all of the potential clients I would like to do work for. You do not have to limit yourself to one niche either. If you are really good at photos and videos, there are numerous applications for that. Sending emails explaining how you can solve a problem for them can be very effective. I try to keep the emails simple without sounding like this email has been sent to 1500 people. The worst thing that can happen is they say that they are not interested or they do not answer the email. Just figure out what works and what does not work and improve the process along the way. Posting content in local Facebook pages can also be very effective in getting the word out. Just be sure to only post once a week on those types of pages so it does not get annoying to others within the group. Facebook ads and Google Ads can also be an option and you can advertise for $1 a day on Facebook and around $2 a day to start on Google Ads. Running some ads at the start can also help get the word out with the hope that overtime you can bring in more organic traffic to offset the balance between organic and paid traffic. A word of advice on Facebook ads would be to be strategic with how many days your ad will run. If you want to start off with a dollar a day, only run that ad for seven days. Facebook will work harder to push that ad into peoples timeline compared to if you paid $1 a day over a period of 30 days. I hope I was able to provide some helpful information and feel free to ask any questions. Best, - Chase

Hey @Shaun Deardorff, thanks for joining the forum and congrats on getting your license. Some quick comments, happy to flesh this out some more with you and looking forward to your response and others in this forum chiming in. Despite a handful of full-time drone pilot job listings here and there (scroll to the bottom of the guide to see some), I'd encourage you to think about building out your own freelance business that could maybe turn into something more full-time down the road. The sooner you can get a website and portfolio up, the better. You can use something like SquareSpace to get started. Take a look at other drone pilot websites in different cities to see how they're pricing and packaging their services. Throw something up as soon as possible, it doesn't have to be perfect, but you need to have some kind of professional presence, particularly when you start reaching out for work. Which brings me to my next point! I'd start developing a target list of companies to work with in the area. Real estate brokers, agents, firms, construction companies, property management companies, car dealerships, anyone that would benefit from high-end aerial photographs or video footage. As an example, here's how Derrick Ward got started: Anyways, I hope this at least begins to answer your question. It's a new industry with lots of opportunities, but it's not a transactional kind of sale — meaning you're really going to have to hit the pavement, understand a consultative sales approach, and be OK with tweaking and improving your process along the way. Would recommend reading SPIN Selling and The Ultimate Sales Machine if you're interested in developing a best-practice outreach process. Stay in touch and safe flying out there, Alan

Since I have my own thread going here: Just another day in the office...