Drone Cast | DJI Ban With $1M Dronepreneur

All right. Well, hey, welcome to uh

another edition of the Drone Cast. And

here we're talking about the horrible

news of DJI getting banned. And we're

here with one of our Sky Network um

drone commanders. And uh a drone

commander. These are income levels that

people in the Sky Network earn for

running their drone business. And we

have a special guest, Ed, here, Eddie.

And Eddie has earned his drone commander

coin, which means he surpassed the $1

million mark with his with his drone

business, which is which is pretty

incredible. So, uh, Ed, I know you're,

uh, you're in between shoots and you're

out doing the do, so I appreciate you

hopping on on this, uh, call with us.

Really quick, what is your take on on

all of this, uh, this craziness that's

going on? And so, well, first of all,

let me bring everyone up to speed and

then and then I I want to hear your

opinion and and more importantly how

it's affecting you or how you think it's

going to affect you in in the real world

actually out there making money with the

drone and running a drone business. So,

uh to get everyone up to speed, the FCC

has just banned DJI drones. Well, not

just DJI, but all Chinese drones. Well,

actually all foreign drones and their

components. And what that ban actually

entails is they're not actually banning

all the drones. they're banning future

FCC licenses. So, what that means is

that um the good news is is that all the

existing drones that are out there and

all the the drones that people have that

are hobbyists or they're operating

drones commercially or a side hustle and

making money, they can still use their

drones. They're not going to be bricked

or shut down. It's not going to be

illegal to operate them. Um, all of

those existing FCC licensed drones can

still be imported, sold, serviced,

flown, um, warrantied, all that stuff

can still happen. But what can't happen

is future FCC licenses are not going to

be granted to these companies, which are

essentially every foreign um, drone

manufacturer and part manufacturers are

not going to be able to get future FCC

licenses for new components, um, new

parts, and new drones. So, the good news

is DJI also has somewhere between 9 and

16 FCC licenses already for products

that have yet to go to production. So,

um these we might get lucky enough and

see some of these. It could be a Air4,

it could be a Mavic 5, uh you know, who

knows what it's going to be. Um, or it

could be action cams and microphones and

and wireless video transmitters, you

know, because the FCC is in control of

anything that requires a uh a wireless

connection, whether Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,

uh, a radio connection, so drones,

microphones, action cams, all that

stuff. So, anyway, that's kind of the

good, bad, and and the ugly with what's

going on with this band. But what Eddie,

while you're here, I want to talk to you

about how this has is affecting you in

the real world. I know a lot of people

are scared. A lot of people are

terrified. Personally, I don't think

it's that big of a deal. Um, I mean, it

is a big deal, but as business owners,

we just pivot and and we deal with it.

But what's your take on it? Are you are

are you afraid of this? Are you afraid

it's going to impact your business or

hurt you or or what's your take?

Uh, well, first of all, I absolutely do

not think it's going to affect my

business in a negative way. You know

what I've seen with almost any industry,

anytime you have something major that

comes in and disrupts things, that's

like the opportunity to make even more

money in my opinion because you get

those people, they do, you know,

everything's either if they've already

started their drone business, um they

they'll get out or you know, they're

panicking and they just I don't know.

And for me, those those ones that are in

it that don't let it scare them, they're

going to be rewarded from it. I'm

already seeing I'm already getting

referrals, you know, clients that have

been realators for, you know, for years

and um like one that I talked to on I

guess I might have no track of time. I

think on Friday, she [clears throat] her

photographer that and he's pretty new to

her, but he told her that he's going to

he's doing something else. he's just he

basically told her, you know, we're not

going to be able to use drones anymore

and, you know, I don't know what you're

going to do, but, you know, I've got to,

you know, get into a different industry.

So, he kind of went back to what he was

doing. So, you know, that's a win for

me. I I feel bad for him because, you

know, I guess he doesn't really

understand what's happening. You know,

she he had her convinced that, you know,

I'm not going to be able to fly any

drone. Nobody's going to be able to fly

drones. So, she was a little scared, you

know, when she called me on, you know,

you know, what we're going to do. And I

kind of explained it to her. She goes

like, "Oh, okay. Well, that's cool." So

then she's like, "Well, I guess you're

my new guy." So, you know, and I'm sure

I'll get more stories like that. So, I

just see why everybody's getting so

scared.

Well, go ahead.

I I I hear you. And I think I think what

happens though is there are there are

two camps, right? There are people like

you that are out in the real world

dealing with customers, making money,

running your business. Um, and then

there are people that are kind of what

do they call? Uh, keyboard cowboys. And

they're they're all they're on the

internet. Their whole life and exposure

is all the clickbait, negative news. You

know, the YouTubers, the influencers,

and those guys, you know, negative news

sells, right? Like the probably the

title of this podcast is is going to be

pretty, right? [laughter] You know, just

because that's what that's what grabs

people's attention. And so that's what

they hear and they hear it over and over

again. and and you know, you know, you

you've been in the network for a while

and you know, you've been on forums like

drone forums and there's just so much

negativity and a lot of just wrong

information. So, you know, a lot of

people um that's why that's why I wanted

to bring you on and and you know, I

appreciate you doing it in short short

notice. I know you're you're on on the

move. Um but just so people can hear

from a from a a real life perspective of

of what's going on out there. Um now now

um like for you what in your opinion

what's the shelf life like with what you

do what do you do? Do you mind sharing

what like what's your main um vertical

market that you work in?

My main vertical market is real estate

and then small you know small production

videos for like small businesses but

primarily it would I would say 95% real

estate. Um

a lot of people say you can't make money

with real estate with a drone. What what

would you say to them? I would say that

that's very i