We were lucky to catch up with Yohalmo Coto recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yohalmo, appreciate you joining us today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

Before I started doing drone work I was a full time commercial truck driver. I drove locally but work days where 12 hours long 5 days a week. Sometimes weekend. The way I got into drone work was originally through learning videography.

I was also doing hip hop production at the time and I wanted to add visuals to my songs. During my trucking work hours I would just go through youtube tutorials. All the money I made through truck driving I would invest into my videography venture.

I decided to learn about drones since I was in the market by them. Going through the youtube rabbit hole I stumbled upon building and flying FPV drones. I became fascinated on this style of drone cinematography since it was still new and not alot of people have jumped on it.

For about 2 years I would do alot of video jobs for very cheap or free in order to develop my skillset as a videographer. Eventually when I had a handful of consistent clients I decided to make the leap as a full time videographer/drone operator. Then the pandemic happened. I was still a new business with not too many responsibility’s so managed through it.

I was doing freelancing for about 2 years before I met Jack which is the founder of Epic Drone Tours. The way jack found me was through Instagram. I made sure on my page to highlight that I am a Los Angeles based fpv drone pilot in order to be found on social media.

Jack wanted to incorporate fpv drone flying through properties and I was on board. We started doing free or cheap jobs to establish a name for ourselves. 3 years into this and we have done jobs for the Padres, Hotels like Hyatt and Hilton. Alot of big name real estate agents.

Yohalmo, 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?

Im essentially another ingredient to a media production. I have experience in videography and drone cinematography. A solution my services provide is engagement through the unique style of filming my drones provide. These drones can basically fly through everything for how tiny they are and still maintain a high quality and engaging video.

My proudest moment are definitely the times I get to see peoples reactions to my drone work. When I transfer the footage to my computer and show people the flight I just filmed and get their reaction is always exciting to me.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I want to continue to grow Epic Drone Tours along with Jack and the team. I also want to do more passion projects as well to my skill as a cinematographer videographer. I feel like there are alot of cookie cutter stuff out now which is fine since it still sells. But I want to be able to capture Los Angeles and its culture through my drones. I am always trying to think of out of the box types of shots to be able to show another way to use these drones.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I was a full time commercial truck driver loading and delivering dirt/minerals from one job to another. When I was learning about cinematography and the types of equipment to get is when I stared using the truck driving money to buy all my equipment. Camera, gimbal, drones, sd cards etc…

Any down time I had I was always looking at youtube videos to learn something new. I started to get clients for my video work and after a long 12 hour day of truck driving I would spend the rest of the day editing videos for clients. With every dollar I made from my video clients I would put towards my business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @yoo.almo

Image Credits
Jack Spitser Zack Reuter Rio Logan David Kaufman