We recently connected with Martin Rinab and have shared our conversation below.

Martin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

When drones first hit the commercial market back around 2010 the technology was in its beginnings. DJI’s first Phantom 1 drone had a GoPro as a camera so the Pilot did not even see what he was filming. It was a lot more difficult to fly a drone and produce good content. The market was wide open for a skilled person and therefor a pilot could charge a lot more than today.

Over the years drones have become highly advanced flying machines with amazing cameras and great safety features – due to this fact drones have become very popular and the prices have dropped significantly.

Many people saw an opportunity to enter the professional drone business even though they had no prior experience in photography and videography.

And that is when the profibility took a big hit. The market has been saturated with drone pilots (licensed and unlicensed) that are willing to work for pennies, just to build a portfolio or to make some extra money on the side.

A drone shoot for real estate should be priced around $1000 or more (pictures and video) but drone websites offer a measly $100 and there is plenty of people taking these jobs undercutting the rates.

Yes, there is a big quality difference but unfortuantely many clients don’t see it ! Fortunately there is still work for the real pilots and clients that do see the difference.

It is probably the biggest profitability issue in this business, too many mediocre drone pilots bringing down the rates to a level that is unsustainable. Think about a drone job offering $100 for a real estate shoot….between the preparation, the travel, the actual shoot and the editing and delivery process you might make $20 an hour……I might as well work at McDonald’s

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I guess the first exposure I had to flying was my 6 years service in the German Airforce….

After that, all the way back around 1993 (I came to NYC in 1992) my now wife and I started a photography business in New York City that is still thriving (Yolanda Perez Photography was just features on CanvasRebel.com)

As with all business our photography evolved from photographing just models and actors to advertising, events, corperate headshots etc and much later we also also started to incorporate videography.

Adding a drone division to our photography made a lot of sense but in the earlier days it required an actual pilot license to fly commercially. So I started flying drones more as a hobby and worked on becoming a better pilot.

Every time I would travel I brought the drone and started building an impressive portfolio with footage from all over the world.

In 2016 regulations changed and a pilot license was no longer required, just a Part 107 certification. This certification was much easier to obtain and medibymartin.com was born and added as a subdivision to our Yolanda Perez Photography LLC.

This was the time when I seriously wanted to break into the drone business that still was not oversaturated and I bought a $10K professional setup – a DJI Inspire 2 drone. This drone’s camera was good enough to be used for tv shows and movies which was really what I wanted to do. Unfortunately I was never able to break into that part of the business as most productions used even more expensive drones with real movie cameras attached to them. On top of that this camera work is unionized and it is a close knit industry. Still I got some gigs for commercials and some documentary work but ultimatly real estate and special projects became the bulk of the work.

One of the biggest challenges I had with developing this business is my location. We are in New York City and the city has never allowed drones ! It is against the law to fly drones not just in Manhattan but in all 5 boroughs so I had to find work in Long Island, CT and NJ.

So I focused more on high end real estate mostly in CT.

All in all it has been great to have added a drone to our photography business as it has helped us to reach more clients and expand on our already successful business.

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Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think we need to differnetiate creatives into 2 categories. Number one are the creatives that work for companies, let’s say an art director at an advertising company. I think most people understand that kind of creative job more as it is more in line with a regular 9-5 job and people will respect this as your career choice.

Then there is the creatives that work for themselves, like a photographer or drone pilot – a one man operation out of either an office or more likely the home. I think many people in the workforce have a little more trouble understanding this kind of work. We heard many times comments that are more discrediting the job rather than validating it. People don’t understand how you can make a living like that – Ultimately they don’t know how difficult it can be to work for yourself. As a creative working solely for yourself, all is on you ! There is no 401K, company health insurance, steady paycheck or regular work hours – everything has to be worked for on your own….many time I sit on the computer late at night and edit a video – there is no regular work hours, no set weekend…..

I think that might be the most difficult for people to understand (unless they are in a similar situation themselves) – on the one hand maybe a bit of jealousy that they have to go to work everyday and I do not (at least in their eyes) and the not really knowing what it entails to be a creative on your own with all the responsibilities.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Most rewarding aspect

– flexible work hours as well as working from home. While many people now work remote and reap some of these benefits they are still tight to their company’s work schedule.

I make the schedule, if I decide to go to the gym at 10am then that is what I will do. Of course my schedule is not entirely in my hands – many time we schedule drone shoots (weather depending) and that becomes a commitment but for the greater part working at your own pace at whatever time you find fitting is what I find most rewarding

– Secondly, as a work for yourself creative you can influence (to a certain extend) how much money you are making. The more work I put into it the more money I can make – this is not true when you work for a company. Yes, depending on your job you might get a bonus at the end of the year or will be promoted but in the short term you cannot influence your income – I can !

– Also having full control over any aspect of your business is very rewarding – you don’t have to do what your boss thinks you should do, only what you think is right !

– Last but not least, when my wife and I had young children (we have 3 daughters that now all live in LA, one is an actor, one is an Influencer and the youngest is in USC college) we were able to take care of our children ourselves, no nanny or other help. There is something to be said about being able to drop off and pick up your children everyday and be around. Definitely one of the perks!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mediabymartin.com
• Instagram: mediabymartin
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/martin-rinab-914977115

Image Credits
personal photo with drone: Yolanda Perez Photography LLC