Before owning a drone, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy flying a drone and if it was a hobby that would keep me interested for a long time. Because I have owned a drone for the past three years, I now know the ins and outs of drones being a great hobby.
Drones are a fantastic hobby because it forces you to get outside, it helps you make friends, there is always an opportunity to get better, and I have found that is so much more than a camera. It allows me to generate content, capture my holidays and has the potential to become a side hustle.
Here are all of the reasons drones are a fantastic hobby and, if you are on the fence, why it won’t be as expensive to get started as you think.
Outside activity
Firstly, I love the fact that flying a drone is an outside activity. I love that my drone has helped me visit some amazing places around my home that I hadn’t been to before owning a drone. I am always interested in capturing footage of awesome places.
In a world where we are constantly distracted by electronic screens and infinite scroll apps, flying a drone combines the aspect of using technology and being outdoors.
When I am flying my drone, I feel very much in the moment. In some ways, it is a very meditative practise and forces me to look at nature. I have found that this brings on feelings of gratitude and helps me feel better.
Spending time in a green space can benefit both your mental and physical well-being. It can help you improve your mood, reduce feelings of stress, and help you take time out. You can find out more about the awesome benefits of being out in nature at this website – click here.
You may be amazed at the number of opportunities to fly a drone and beautiful places around your home.
It helps you make friends
I have found that flying a drone has helped me create friends and increase the amount of social interaction that I experience. Primarily, it is helped with connection with strangers because people always approach you when you are flying a drone. Most of the time, they are interested in your drone and are very happy to look at the screen over your shoulder while flying.
Secondly, flying a drone can open up common interest groups that increase your weekly contact with people with the same hobby.
Join a group
By joining a community of people who fly drones regularly, you will be learning from people who have been there and done that. It’s also a good idea to consider learning to fly a drone with another beginner. I have found that the combination of flying with seasoned professionals and then teaching another beginner is the perfect way to solidify any learnings from more experienced flyers.
There are plenty of places where you can join a community of drone flyers, and you can find a lot of them on meetup.com.
There are a few places where you can find, metre groups which include:
- Eventbrite – Eventbrite brings together people through live experiences. This website is full of free and paid meetups.
- Meetup – Meetup is a service used to organise online groups that host in-person and virtual events. Just go in and type drone into their search engine to find out what you find.
- Facebook groups – Facebook has groups that allow you to assemble online with people that share similar interests.
Go ahead and reach out to some of these groups; I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised about how friendly every drone group is! I love them because you know exactly where to drive the conversation – towards drones!
Not only does joining a community mean that you learn new skills, but you will find new friends and companionship through a common interest. I know that I have made some of my best friends by joining groups with shared interests and hobbies.
People approach you
I have found that while I am flying my drone, people often approach me to ask questions.
Once I was flying my drone near a reservoir, I was stopped by about three groups of people asking what I was doing. At first, I was concerned that they were going to tell me off. But, to my relief, they wanted to know more about the noisy tech that was flying above my head.
Even though the local laws stipulate that I need to stay 30 m away from people, my drone attracts them into the 30 m circumference bubble. I always let them know exactly what I am doing and let them know that there is a drone in the sky they always approach me.
It’s always nice to speak to strangers about something that you are doing and that they are particularly interested in.
Inexpensive to get started (but…)
Flying a drone is relatively inexpensive to get started. You can pick up a secondhand consumer drone with all automated flight features for a safe flight for as little as $200.
I don’t recommend that people start flying a drone with a toy drone for under a hundred and US$50. These drones don’t have any stabilisation features that make drone flying much more fun and safe.
Once you have your first drone (I recommend a secondhand drone), it can be very tempting to upgrade to the latest model as soon as they come out. I recommend that you stick with the drone that you have purchased for at least a year before deciding to upgrade. Upgrading is very tempting due to drone companies’ fancy marketing, but it is not necessarily the best thing for you.
Only upgrade your drone when you have reached the limits of the drone’s capabilities often. Only when you have reached the limits of the drone’s capabilities often should you even consider upgrading your drone for a newer and bigger model.
Always an opportunity to get better
I love learning. I love learning about anything. For a hobby to remain interesting for me, I have to be learning more continually.
The great thing about flying a drone is that you are constantly learning. Because you are flying your drone out in the environment, there are issues that you need to overcome. These issues continue to make you a better pilot. Also, if you decide to fly with a camera drone, there is a whole world of artistic development and creation at your fingertips. Learning how to frame the shot, get the best movements from your drone, combine and edit photos for high definition and hyperreality photos kept this hobby fresh and interesting for a very long time.
Flying a drone only gets boring when you stop having a purpose for your drone missions, and you stop trying to extend your capability as either a pilot or a photographer and videographer.
You can do so many things – more than a camera
Even though our online drone experience is of aerial photography and videography, drones can be so much more than a camera.
Keeping your drone hobby fun requires you to explore the limits and purpose of your drone flights continually. If you want to know more about what you can do with your drone, you should check out my other article – click here – where I go through everything beyond the usual.
I have also highlighted seven things that you can do with your drone in my YouTube video.
You can usually drone to:
- take photos and videos
- create an obstacle course
- race with your friends
- record your adventures and hobbies
- starter YouTube channel
- participate in studies
- and start a business or side hustle – will talk about that a little bit later.
There are so many things to do with a drone that makes it a really good hobby for continually trying new things.
It doesn’t take much to store
Some hobbies require countless amounts of equipment and storage space for the equipment you inevitably accumulate.
The transportability and foldability of drones make them very easy to store in the smallest of places. I keep my drone in a drawer with all of the accessories.
A small draw is enough to contain and hold the drone, the remote control, the charges, the spare batteries, and all of the cables associated with the drone. It is very easy and makes the drone convenient for people with limited storage space in their houses.
Grab and go hobby
I have always got my drone set up to be ready to grab and go at the drop of a hat. I have found that flying a drone regularly relies on reducing the barriers in the way.
Always having your drone ready to fly means that you can spontaneously fly or grab your drone on the way and out of the house.
Having it ready to grab at a moments notice increases the likelihood of you using it, making it a great hobby for people who don’t like always to have to carry and plan for equipment.
The only downside is that you should carry a battery charger that connects to your car to charge your drone on the way to your destination. Otherwise, you have to do this at home.
Online content generator
People are always looking for ways to stand out online. Having a drone makes it easy to create content and show off your latest adventures on all weekend trips.
Have a purpose for the drone footage. This reason seems to be the number one reason for people getting bored of flying their drones.
Make it crystal clear in your mind about the outcome of your drone flights. Perhaps you want to put together a montage of your holiday. Capturing footage and editing as you go is easier than deciding to do it all in one go at the end of your holiday.
Are you looking to capture some awesome photos to put up around your house? Ensure that you edit your photos as soon as you get off location. I have been able to do it with a laptop and plenty of free software.
Business or side hustle opportunity
having a drone means that you could launch your own business or side hustle. I have not actively promoted any business activities with my drone, but I have found that many people approach me and ask if I’m willing to capture a few shots of certain landmarks.
Also, if you find the right audience with the right offer, drone business can be incredibly lucrative.
Drone businesses can be incredibly profitable because there are tons of people and businesses that need drone photography and videography such as:
- Real estate agents – images and videos for house sales.
- Real estate developers – images for marketing material and to attract investors into their project.
- Agriculture – agricultural services can include monitoring, livestock monitoring, crop monitoring, spraying and other bird deterrent activities.
- TV and the media – they have a 24-hour news cycle and always are looking for drone shots to pad out their stories.
- Conferences – people want to promote their conference and need nice shots of the area they will be hosting their conference.
- Local government – local government agencies want images for their social media but also for any projects that they want to start.
- Weddings – people want photos of their wedding which capture the day and aerial photography and videography is becoming more and more common.
- And much much more…
There is no doubt that there are plenty of people willing to buy drone photography and videography and deciding on what your niche will be will also allow you to focus in on a profitable drone business. For example, real estate agents probably want images and videos for the house sales but do not have the budget for it whereas real estate developers have a much larger budget and they are willing to pay more since good photography of their development site will allow them to attract more investment opportunities.
Coming up with a scalable service offering and attracting more of your ideal clients is what makes drone business is profitable.
Summary
In this article, we have gone over everything you need to know about whether or not a drone can be a good hobby for you. Keeping it interesting will require a purpose for your drone missions but for those who love learning and don’t want the hassle of storing large amounts of hobby equipment, a drone can be a perfect addition to your free time.
I love having my drone around, and it has made my life much richer and adventurous. There are some places in my local area that I have never seen before but found through exploring through drone flight. I’m always excited to look for the perfect place for my next drone mission.
