We were lucky to catch up with Bobby Blevins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bobby, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Overall, operating Nolensville Drone Production has been an awesome experience. You get to experience new types of clients on a daily basis. We started the business in July of 2020, right in the middle of covid. I had purchased some drones and was flying them by myself during the pandemic for something to do. A friend asked if I could help them shoot a commercial and that is how Nolensville Drone Production started. If I could go back I would have started this business when I left my job at Media Production and Technology Coordinator at Williamson County Schools in March 2016. Starting a business during a pandemic was difficult. If you fast forward to 2024 it is a lot easier to run a business.

Bobby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve worked in media production for most of my life. I worked for Brentwood High School’s football team, then got a full-scholarship to Tennessee Technological University to be their football video coordinator. At Tech I was a two-time CSVA National Video Coordinator of the Year. When I graduated the Tennessee Titans hired me to be a coaches video assistant. After that I worked for Williamson County Schools in media for three years, then I was a Director of Media Relations for a health care company. I ended up having some health issues and left that job and worked at Home Depot of three years. When Covid happened I left my job at Home Depot and decided to open up my own business. I had a passion for drones and it was cool to have a video camera floating around in mid-air. It made my commercial shoots look more creative. We provide drone work for construction, portfolio, live broadcast, tourism, events and business. We also do ground video and photography, but we are 80% drone capture. What sets us apart is there aren’t very many drone companies focused just on those six fields. A lot of drone companies focus on real estate, and we don’t capture real estate unless it is a large commercial investment. We had logged over 3000 drone flights in the past four years, we have only two crashes, and our last crash was in 2021. We have large production drones and small customer drones that can be legally flown over people. We are a creative team with four of us on staff. We love working with a variety of around four clients a week to keep our ideas fresh.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Yes, when we started the business we tried to grow through Facebook ads. This doesn’t work. The majority of our clients come for LinkedIn. We know this is not a photo/video platform, but we treat it like Facebook and just post. Client find us through that.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to learn not to work seven days a week. Taking off days is very important to your mental and physical health. When I worked in football we worked seven days a week and it’s not healthy.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.nolensvilledproneproduction.com
• Instagram: NolensvilleDroneProduction
• Facebook: Nolensville Drone Production
• Linkedin: Nolensville Drone Production
• Twitter: none
• Other: https://vimeo.com/user129317089

Image Credits

ALL PHOTOS HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY BOBBY BLEVINS