It is no secret that drones are changing the business world. From being sold as a toy in the early 2000s, drones have quickly become an important business asset. Lots of industries are now using drones daily and thanks to their vital role more people are now setting up their own drone business around the world.
Sadly, a lot of drone businesses are failing due to the lack of understanding of how to get customers and how to market their business to potential customers. One company who is helping people to succeed in running and setting up a drone business is Leveraged Launchpad.
Leveraged Launchpad who run a 7-day challenge for Drone Entrepreneurs have had huge success in helping people start their own drone business. With their knowledge, Leveraged Launchpad are helping struggling drone businesses to understand where they are going wrong and how to fix the problems within their business.
I was intrigued to find out more about the company that is receiving five star reviews for their services in helping drone business owners succeed. So, I spoke to the founder of Leveraged Launchpad to find out more about their seven day challenge for Drone Entrepreneurs, this is what they had to say.
First of all, can you please introduce yourself
My name is Sara Sheets. I’ve had my Part 107 since 2020 and began flying for myself when I was working in real estate. I then started my own local drone services business and noticed that I attracted clients and grew more quickly than a lot of guys who had been around a lot longer and who were frankly more skilled than me. I realized that all the marketing skills that I’d learned in real estate, where so much money is on the table, were serving me in this work as well. I started to help other drone pilots to market themselves and attract clients, first in my Facebook Group Local Drone Services: Business Growth for Part 107 Certified Pilots (https://www.facebook.com/groups/localdroneservicesbusinessgrowthforpilots) and then 1:1.
A lot of people think that to start a drone business you need an expensive drone, is that correct?
Not necessarily – certainly for some markets or really specific services this is required, like thermal imaging or like, drone power washing. But I started with a Mavic Mini-2 for real estate photos and videos and then drone marketing services and it was totally fine. I actually see this a lot, where guys will buy a whole fleet of drones for various services before they’ve built the client base for the services, know that there’s demand in their area or even know if they like doing those jobs. If your goal is to make money, I recommend starting smaller and getting to ROI before expanding. Like, buy more drones with drone earnings…not just hope they’ll pay for themselves.
If someone was thinking of buying a drone to start their own business, what drone would you recommend and how much budget would a person need?
Like I mentioned, I started with the Mavic mini 2 and was really happy – it was lightweight, did everything I needed it to, and was really economical at like $600 is what I paid at the time. I think that may even have been with extra batteries or something. You can definitely stay under a thousand dollars and get something that’s going to be more than enough, like the new mini-3. The DJI Mavic 3 Classic is also amazing and not that much more, I think it’s like $1400.
A lot of people who start a drone business specialise in one sector such as real estate, would you recommend this, or should a drone business offer their services for all sectors?
Ok, this is a great question and one that I think is actually super key to who finds success and profitability more quickly and who gets burned out and quits. I recommend starting with a niche and becoming the expert, like THE drone guy or girl for that service in your area. Think about it – if you need an oil change, do you go to a service shop where they offer like, tanning, and notary services and sell rock climbing gear? And when you ask the price, they have to figure out a quote for you? Or do you go to a shop that only does really great oil changes, the prices are clear, and you can see the value for each, they’re efficient and easy to work with?
It’s the same thing here. When you’re the expert, you’re out of the race to the bottom on pricing because you’re positioning on value. You don’t have to do all things at once because you’re doing enough of one thing that you can get really good at it and provide a WOW experience for your clients. Vs if you’re trying to be all things to all people, you won’t really resonate with any of them. I get that it’s super tempting to want to offer everything, like pet search and rescue and cell tower inspection and residential real estate and fpv commercial tours and solar inspections, and it seems like that’s the best way to grow, but I guarantee that you’d actually be diluting all your efforts. Laser focus! That’s my recommendation and what I’ve seen work. And of course, you can always add complementary services or branch out once you’re established.
You have just announced a 7-Day Business Growth Challenge For Drone Services Entrepreneurs, can you explain more about the challenge?
Yes, the challenge is pretty awesome, I’m actually really excited to finally be able to launch it. Like I mentioned, I was working 1:1 with pilots and could only really help so many at once. But I noticed they were getting stuck in the same areas – which was around getting their next or first clients. So the challenge is designed to break through this issue by 1) getting crystal clear on who they want to work with, 2) defining their value to that client base, so they are attracting their ideal clients who will be looking for them, ready to book their services and pay them what they’re worth, and 3) get that messaging working for them on autopilot so they can attract these people and 4) start prospecting so they can get experience and profit and get the whole lead machine system in motion.
It’s all about getting momentum and some wins as quickly as possible and then building on that.
Honestly it was also sort of a response to the frustrations that a lot of guys in my group were having to basically being taken advantage of by a lot of these drone job platforms middlemen – like ZeitView, droners.io, bees360, etc. Some of them are ok, or have some benefits, but for a lot of the jobs they’re asking the pilots to do a ton of work or travel or both and then get paid just ridiculously tiny amounts. And then the pilots who do the work don’t even get the client relationship, they’re supposed to just represent this third party.
So, I wanted to help more guys cut out that middleman – if you’ve got your own client pipeline, you don’t need to take pennies on the dollar and you can build something of your own.
What will people learn from the 7-day challenge?
They will be taken through setting up the foundation to be successful in local marketing – it’s crazy how many people don’t really realize that they currently can’t be found. I call that “Hope Marketing” where you kind of have an idea in your head of what you want to be doing and paid, and you hope you’ll just get a phone call or email from someone offering you that job and that pay. But that’s not how that works like 99% of the time, or 99.9% of the time.
So, they’ll learn how to actually put themselves online locally so their ideal clients can 1) find them, 2) see that they’re the best local options, 3) book their services and be happy to pay them what they’re worth. We automate this through Leveraged Launchpad, which is my all-in-one software solution for drone pilot entrepreneurs.
Then they learn how to set up their lead machine and nurture system so they’re always staying top of mind, so when their ideal client is ready to say “yes” to their services, they remember who to call.
There’s a lot more available too, I have a complete course on launching your drone business and that’s available to anyone in the challenge or subscribed to the platform.
So, they can learn a ton or just focus on the 7 daily guided steps of the challenge, which are designed to keep it simple and maximize results. We’re all busy, this is meant to really streamline the implementation and focus on the 20% of effort that gets 80% of results.
Who has had some amazing success in improving their drone business or getting wins, can you give me an example?
Yeah absolutely, it can vary depending on whether the pilot was actually willing to take the actions, but I had one guy, Ryan, who I helped set up Google My Business and a simple website who got found that week by someone wanting a media project and he actually signed a $17,000 dollar contract. That was pretty crazy and not everyone’s going to have the confidence to do that, but it was an opportunity, and he took it. I also had a guy who sent out what we call “reactivation emails” which are templated emails to past clients, to basically be like, “Hey, I’m alive, you’re alive, do you need my help or this type of job done?” And he booked 3 jobs the next weekend for a realtor he worked with in the past who happened to have these new listings.
I actually got an email last night that was amazing, a guy who did the challenge was working on the ground prep worksheet about his ideal clients and realized that they were the project managers at these construction sites… and he’s flown over 100 sites over the past few months for one of these job platforms… and not thought to try to connect with the project managers. So, he had this realization and started grabbing their cards and is now getting the nurture set up – so that could definitely lead to some amazing things and again moving away from dependence on the third party who takes most of the profits.
What equipment would a person need to buy if they were thinking of starting a drone business, besides the drone what would they need to buy?
This business can be started pretty lean. They need an LLC and drone insurance. An email address. Business cards and a website. That’s not really equipment – for just equipment backup batteries and a mobile charger are important.
The biggest other expenses are software and advertising, which of course is what Leveraged Launchpad gets covered for a really incredible price. With everything included in Leveraged Launchpad you could easily pay $500 or more each month for way less, and our monthly plans start at $97. It’s designed to give serious bang for the buck and get to ROI as soon as possible – that’s what the challenge is designed to do.
Finding customers is always hard to do but in a drone business which is a fairly new industry it can be a struggle, is this something people will learn on the course?
Absolutely. Depending on the niche, yeah there might be some market education of the value and importance of the service, or its applications, like around thermal inspections. But creating a predictable client pipeline is the core of the challenge, whatever your chosen niche.
You have created a name for yourself with helping drone business owners to become profitable, but for those people who don’t really know you yet and want to succeed, why should they turn to you for help?
Well, there are a lot of options out there, where I am really proud to differentiate myself is by actually providing a proven system. I saw so many guys just overwhelmed by how much there was to do or the different options – like Facebook ads or networking or trade shows – and I wanted to provide a solution that answers the question, “What do I do next?” So, there’s never confusion. And also get those quick wins, and see the WHY behind each action, and get the skills to keep going with building a business.
You could take what’s learned in the challenge and apply it totally on your own and still get results. That’s what I want for every business owner, any guy who’s out here willing to try and build something for themselves.
But I wanted to take away the “grind” factor and make it a more simple, step by step process that gets results. I mean, simple doesn’t necessarily always mean easy, but with Leveraged Launchpad there are automations and plug-and-play templates and all kinds of resources I’ve created to make it as easy and streamlined as possible.
And of course I’m there to help, I’m always a resource for the pilots I work with.
If someone is not sure if your 7-day challenge is for them, what would you say to them?
I’d say, there’s literally no risk and the possibility of huge reward – even if all you do is take each simple step of the 7 days, you’ll gain confidence and clarity in who you want to serve and confidence in your value.
There’s this Chinese proverb that says: The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second-best time is right now.
So, if you’re done with being confused or overwhelmed, this is a path to get clear and get results and momentum, and there is no better time than right now to take that step!
And you’ll have support along the way, and of course I’m committed to helping and love to see guys get results.
If you’re on the fence, I’d say just join the challenge – you’ll be with a group of other cool drone pilot entrepreneurs, if you take the small steps every day you’ll make awesome progress, and my goal is to help you get some wins!
So I hope to see you there and be telling a story about your cool win or first client next time.
Media Contact
Company Name: Leveraged Launchpad
Contact Person: Sara Sheets
Country: United States
Website: https://sites.leveragedlaunchpad.com/7-day-challenge-registration-free-trial
