Start a drone services business after your Part 107
A certificated pilot with a chosen vertical — roof and insurance inspection, construction progress, or agriculture — insured per flight or annually, airspace authorizations handled routinely, and 30 paid missions flown with deliverables clients can hand to an adjuster or a lender.
Free preview: 4 of 25 steps
Work through them in the real run view, exactly as a buyer does. No account, no payment, nothing saved.
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- Gets better over time — free updates included
- Run it on web and mobile
- Invite a partner to go through it with you — you share the same progress
- Make it your own — a private copy you can edit to fit your situation
- The playbook's community — ask questions, get additions, and see how other buyers improve it, right on the step
Who it's for
Part 107 holders and people about to test, with $3,000–$15,000 of capital they can afford to lose, who bought a drone and cannot find anyone to pay them for photos. Best fit is a pilot in a region with roofing, construction, or agriculture nearby who is willing to make sales calls; it is not for hobbyists who want to stay casual, and not for anyone who will skip the interviews.
About this playbook
A step-by-step plan that turns a Part 107 certificate into a paid drone services business without spending real money before the demand is proven. You pick one vertical — roof and insurance inspection, construction progress documentation, or agriculture — interview the people who would pay, and pre-sell missions in writing before registering anything. The plan prices one delivered mission, builds the startup, monthly, break-even, and scenario numbers from your own figures, then walks the US paperwork in order: the LLC and EIN, FAA aircraft registration and LAANC, the aviation liability insurance clients demand, and the state and local registrations. The final phases take you past opening day: the first ten customers by name, the channels to the first hundred, the suppliers, and the day-90 decision agreed in advance. It does not cover Part 107 study or flight training — the licensing guide does that — and it promises no income; it gives you the arithmetic to judge the business yourself.
What you'll do, step by stepFree preview
Only a sample is open: 4 of 25 steps can be read in full. The rest unlock when you buy.
Phase 1: Prove the demand before you spend a dollar
4 stepsPhase 2: The offer and its price
3 stepsPhase 3: The numbers that decide it
4 stepsPhase 4: The paperwork that makes it legal
4 stepsPhase 5: The money that gets you started
2 stepsPhase 6: The first customers
3 stepsPhase 7: Operations that hold up
3 stepsPhase 8: The first 90 days
2 steps
Details
What you need first
A current Part 107 certificate or a booked test date, a drone with a stabilized camera and GPS suited to inspection or mapping work, a computer able to run photogrammetry software, and $3,000–$15,000 in capital. The guide assumes safe, legal flying but does not teach Part 107 study, flight training, or cinematography.
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