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This Is Getting Ridiculous

As I keep saying, only way to fight these “cheapos” is by ignoring their posts. People that take these jobs are either inexperienced (it will definitely show in the final product) because “you’ll get what you pay for” or desperate. In any case, If one has a legitimate business with insurance, licenses required to run legitimate business and related expenses with it, one can’t and shouldn’t settle for these low paying jobs!
 
The more i check all those forums, the more i think it's ridiculous.why waste your time in publishing all those video clips on youtube?let that darn drone inside and go out relax yourself and enjoy the beautifull natural scenery. I think that all that new technologie (iPhone , drones ,etc) have m ade peoples more stupid!
 
Funny... I got one of these today for a local job... paid $80...
Burns me too... after registering my company paying insurance and having to travel to Honolulu to get certified... and investing in good machines and computer hardware... when approaching some of these prospects you get the "my nephew does that for me for $50"...
Posted a comment on our Phantom Pilots site some time ago asking who would shoot stock footage for one of these guys... pay was something ridiculous like $8 a clip... but low and behold someone piped up and claimed they made 60 or 70K with them... yeah sure.
 
Yea I see this stuff all the time. I used to get frustrated too but no worries. I've been making a living with AP since the 333 exemp days. The cream will always rise to the top. One thing I can say is I definitely agree with donaldlang though, don't even bother with those job sourcing services, do it old school, figure out who your most profitable clients in your area would be given your specific UAS specialty (photography, video, inspection etc), then focus your marketing efforts directly to them and forge relationships. Just my 2 cents.
 
As multi rotors proliferate, drop in price, and licensing becomes more stringent, more and more 'low budget' jobs will be done by cousins, grandchildren and even the lawn maintenance guy (and illegal aliens with time off from their summer fruit picking jobs), sans licenses and insurance. Why? #1 most obvious answer: because everybody is hungry and few care for some ideologically pro-photo-centric old-school 'drone' pilots. Graphic design went down this road when everybody's mother could not do their own 'graphics' on MicroSoft Word. Sure, these graphics looked like they were done by rank amateurs, who were now empowered with the miracle of home-self pagination. That's because, well, they were! Forget good taste, font choices, design basics and common sense. Many small mom & pop "Sign" and "Graphic" ships, and many a Freelance Graphics business (I was one) lost their business to DIY graphics and Chinese online mail-order websites. All I can say as a designer of 40+ years is at least they aren't comparing to me because I chose something other than their preferred 8 styles of Helvetica! I long for those olden days ... when men were men ... and basis sheets ran scared!
 
Agreed. It is disappointing that these broker sites have commoditized drone pilots. As EagleVisionAerial suggested, good professionals will ignore them and rise to the top with the cream while earning the premium fees we deserve. If it's any consolation, pilots who settle for these bottom-feeder jobs cannot survive long and will soon have to find another calling. And the website operators and their low-balling clients will move on to the next garage sale.
 
So to be the Devils Advocate, 3 years ago, this is what people told me about my Real Estate Photography. I charge $99 for 12 images..... here we are 3 years later, and you cannot look at these jobs on an individual basis! You have to look at it over a years time.

I do 10 of these jobs a day now, 3 times a week. That is 30 jobs a week, or about 1500 jobs a year. Add it up, I’m making almost $150K a year just doing $99 10-15 minute jobs!!! If you could do THIS job shown in this thread for $200, 30 times a week, you would make almost $300K in a year.

I wager to say all of the “High End” shooters here are not making that much?!?!

But maybe you are!!! Just think about the possibility of “Volume” style of Drone Photography!!!!!

Kirk
kvphoto.com
 

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