S1/EP 4: Bill Holderby from Eagle Eyes UAS

Bill is a UAS Solutions Director, Professional Drone Pilot and Owner/President of Eagle Eyes UAS

Bill says he’s always been kind of a techno nerd. While working a project in Florida several years ago, he came across a professional pilot who was someone he perceived as worth knowing. “I kept his information and then when I moved over to the area where he lives, I looked him up and I said, 'Hey, what are you doing?' He told me he was in the drone industry. As someone who believes in going after technology when it first comes out (even though not perfected) drones had already caught my attention.” Bill’s contact then started sharing ideas of what he was doing. With a background in sales and marketing, Bill saw an opportunity to be in the beginning of an industry which, if done right, he could really do well with it. So Bill started working with his connection for about a year, not making a lot of money but learning from his business skills, about drones and orthomosaic imagery. He then took the Part 107 and did very well.

What happened next was ironic. Bill had branched out on his own doing inspection work of the damage after Hurricane Irma. Bill felt himself an apprentice of drone work during this time. He learned about a variety of different equipment and he learned just by flying drones. “The learning experience was mostly good...a few bad. There's never a dull moment. To me, flying a drone is somewhere between super exciting and terrifying.”

At that point, Bill’s inspection work wasn’t for insurance companies, because insurance companies, like many industries, know that drones exist, but they don't know how they can benefit them. Bill said it took time for people to embrace and understand drones. According to Bill “Your job is going to be more on educating than flying a drone. You need to become a master educator and someone who can explain whatever industry vertical market you're going into. You need to be able to explain 'what's in it for me?', 'why do I need this technology?' 'How is it going to make my life better?' We understand it as pilots and we learn it more and more every day. We learn new applications and we read about them. But the bottom line is you've got to become good at educating people and making it simple. Don't get complicated. With most people, the simple aspect of how this can help them on their job or business is where you're going to gain customers.”

Bill started out with a Phantom 3. He understood orthomosaic imagery and had been flying enough. “I already had one drone stuck in the tree and then another one I whacked it into a wall. It was a friend's and broke off the camera. You do these things and you not only learn to fly drones but not to fly it where there's a lot of trees.”

Bill suggests you learn the basics before trying to get fancy--things can happen. Bill literally started in the community where he lives. The manager asked what he would charge for it, told him to do some before/after pictures of their pool project and even suggested he charge $1,000. That’s how he came up with a per acre rate for doing orthomosaic imagery.

He flew again and again. Then he literally went down the street and knocked on the doors of the managers of other buildings. He got into a couple of them; he did some research online. “One called another and told another and then I had four associations that wanted to hire me—all of a sudden I was busy. Then I started calling up other community association managers, you know, just googling names. Through picking up the phone and calling people or driving by with some marketing material, I just kept sharing what I could do.”

Bill says that in South Florida you can't get a roofer to come out and inspect only 2-3 association buildings. If  you have 20 buildings on your site, you don't want to send your maintenance guy up there to walk around and see what kind of structural damage there is because the potential for him to break a leg, or fall off while trying to take pictures is ridiculous. “When I explained that I could fly a 20 acre location in 30 minutes and in 24 hours I could give them detailed pictures of damage on the rooftops---they got excited. Without exception, I hand-delivered the results via thumb drive. They were blown away because I showed them how they could literally use the snipping tool on a windows PC and take each individual roof mark up where the damage is, but, more importantly, they could see which one needed immediate attention, where they might want to throw a tarp on and which didn't need any attention.” Bill found out this was important because after it rains, water intrusion would further damage the building. That was one of the best things that could happen because he could sell the before and after so they could do a comparison and show insurance companies how it worked.

Bill’s advice, if you’re seriously looking at this business, is, “If you're a shy introverted person, you're going to have to change that; this business requires you to go out there and talk. But here's the thing, if you were educating yourself on drone technology and what they're capable of doing, and you can get a few neat stories under your belt and people are going to be interested in this. I just did a continuing education class that I got certified for."

“The class I teach is everything you always wanted to know...you're going to know more than 99% of the people on Earth about drones. I show them all kinds of neat things. If you're going out there selling insurance or credit card processing, you're going to get beat up. Go out there and talk to people about drones and specifically what they can do for them. Give them good examples.” For example, every seven years a high rise gets a paint job. Typically, they'll go out and get a paint job quote but once they get up there and start painting and see damage, it could double or triple in price. So I suggested, why not inspect the building every couple of years, take some HD photos, some 4K video, up and down, get some roof shots of chillers and AC equipment, etc.” Bill made phone calls to a list for one area. He set up meetings left and right. Since starting that, he’s done at least $10,000 in business in that segment alone. Now, he’s beginning to get traction through referrals. For this type of work, on the low end, Bill can make $650. The high end could be anywhere between $1,000-2000. Bill charges $400/hour pending on what he does. For video editing, he can charge $100/hr.

For bigger or multiple buildings, there's more money to be made. All Bill does, he says, is to show them examples of what he’s done for other people and how he found problems in places that nobody would ever see.  According to Bill, that’s just one vertical market to look into. You have to determine what your market is. David agreed, “When you find these little problem points and then you educate people about how these drones can help save a bunch of money and heartache...once you get in and you just start talking to people, you're able to see more of the issues and problems. THEN your brain starts moving and thinking about how you can help and solve that for them.”

“We’re here to solve problems. You find problems by going out and talking to people. I always tell people the drone is just the vehicle. It could be a big drone, small drone. It can be this drone, that drone. There are a lot of great drones out there that take super good photos. But just because you go out to buy a drone does not make you a business. You need to solve problems. You need to be a business person about it. You need to know everything from being incorporated, to having a business bank account to managing and writing invoices for customers.”

On construction sites, helicopters are used for taking updated photos, but most of them are from so far away. There's no real super close up high quality. Construction, to Bill, is still far behind. They still have not fully embraced what the potential is with the drone. "We need to find the pain, and then you come in and you talk to them about solving that problem with them. If you find the problem the drone can solve, they're going to be all ears. It's about listening. If you've studied drones for one day, you'll know more than 99% of the people out there. So if you get a couple of stories, you'll wow them. If you've got some pictures and things you can show or videos, it may not take much to impress people—but you can't BS them. If you really are passionate about what you are doing here and you’ve figured out 2-3 vertical markets to go after, people are going to listen and it's going to take time. It's going to take at least a year or two."

David asked about a good way to get clients—a specific strategy. “Would you do it the same exact way or would you kind of switch it up from what you had been doing?”

Bill asserts that people need to get involved in networking organizations specific to a particular area of focus. “I did a story in the local chapter magazine in an area of Florida. I talked about why you need to start budgeting for drone services. For example, we have hurricanes and even though they're going to need it afterwards, they should be thinking about doing it beforehand. You should start documenting now that it's not that expensive. Document the properties that you manage, whether it's a high rise or a or a 100-acre low rise. For example, I had a customer who had 116 acres and the charge came out to less than $5 a family to get unbelievable orthomosaic detailed imagery. If they did that once or twice a year, that's nothing for the value they're going to get.”

For construction, what he needed to do was some free flying to get some pictures, videos and orthos. He then edits photos and videos to anywhere between 4 and 6 minutes and puts music to it. They love it because he's showing the owners of these projects that people were actually spending the tens or hundreds of millions. Bill says, “So if you're going to do construction, call on some construction companies, talk to some project managers, talk to the people that do their budgeting and their estimating. Have some materials, a little bit about your business. Understand that in the beginning, it's not going to be the most perfect thing...it will feel awkward.”

David agreed that even though people complain about not being able to make money, he sees that successful people are the ones who have taken initiative to learn some skills to help people solve some problems. David says, “People assume, ‘oh, if I can spend $1,000-1500 bucks on a drone, I should be able to go out and everybody should be clamoring for my unique skills.’ But it really comes down to all the other stuff you learned, right? How to make the orthomosaic maps, how to do the editing, how to pitch someone on an idea, and how to approach someone.”

Bill replied, “If you're going to do this as a business, then do not treat it as a hobby. Focus on this for six months really hard and be willing to put in 10 to 12 hour days, be willing to go out and meet people over a cup of coffee or go to their office. If you're going to run it as a business, you need to show the people that you're running it as a business because if you don't, if they think you're just some kid or somebody who just like you said, bought a Maverick, it's going to come across that way.” He suggests creating a basic website, doing a little bit with social media, getting good at using things like Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Dropbox is great for sharing big files. For marketing, he says you also need to have things like a logo, brochures, business cards, etc. “Go to events in shirts with your logo on or a cap or something like that--brand yourself. Tell people who you are and what you represent.”

“I'm a professional. I am licensed and insured, and I tell that to people point blank in each of my presentations. If somebody comes to you and wants to fly a drone and they're not licensed, run, don't walk. And if they're not insured? Run faster because that means they're not serious about the business. For $1 million of flying insurance, a drone is going to run you about $500- $600—if you can't afford that, you shouldn't be in business.”

The most successful businesses out there have a big “WHY?” behind them. Take Apple for example. There's a why behind what they do and the way they do it. For me it's the sharing and the educating of people on how this technology can change their life—it's literally getting them to go WOW, or seeing their eyes pop when they suddenly see that I can really help them manage this property."

Bill says, “My favorite part of this business is that no two days are the same. If you put me in a factory to make widgets and I had to do the same thing eight hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year, I’d probably kill myself. Today, I've set up three meetings with people for this Thursday I've got a meeting or a presentation and about a month in front of a group of 50 people for a 115-acre site. And, this is not to to to brag, but I'll share with you some of the $ detail of those jobs. Within the last two months, I've got projects for $935, $1,800, $650, $550, $1,200, $1,925, etc. I don't do much real estate, but I can earn $200 for 1 1/2 hrs of time. Not all my months are like that, but my business has been building.” Bill monitors sales every month on a spreadsheet and compares it versus where he was a year ago. He’s always looking for the growth and has had months where he’s made little or nothing.  He defines himself as successful because he’s created it and is moving in the right direction...every day he's doing a little bit and it's fun. Flying the drone is really a small part of it—most of the time is spent on the phone, on the computers and emails, sending invoices, making deposits (which is always a good thing).

David and Bill both agree, “The biggest thing for people to take away is yes, it is possible. Maybe you're not going to get rich your first year...maybe not your second year...maybe not even your third year, but if you're in it to get rich, then you should do something else. Build your business. There are many different areas—pick one to three, stick with it and understand it's like planting an apple seed. You put the seed in, but don't think in six months you're going to be selling apples. It'll maybe take a year or two and then all of a sudden you have a tree with multiple apples. You can sell all those apples, but you'll do a lot of work in the meantime. Then you can charge, because you know you have confidence in yourself."

Bill sees flying a drone as the beginning, but people should have a specialized skill—orthomosaic, video editing; you can combine these things. Bill feels confident charging what he does because he knows he’s going to give people at least that in value, if not more. His  goal is always to under-promise and over deliver. “Let them know you're a generous person and you're willing to go above and beyond. You know... Give them a little bit more...Separate yourself. Are they going to remember how you were branded? That you dressed nice? Did he have business cards? Did he follow up when he said he would?  Bottom line, yes, there is money to be made. We are still in the very beginning, infancy stage here.”

“You only need one good idea to, to spark a revolution. I'm sure there's some great ideas out there from other folks too, so I'm looking forward to it.”

• Bill's Website: www.eagleeyesuas.com
• See videos on YouTube channel: www.YouTube.com

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