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In the Drone to 1K Podcast, we take an inside look at how successful drone business owners got started and scaled their company to making $1,000 per month and beyond. Whether you're just looking to make a little side cash with your drone or you want to turn your passion into a full-time career, we hope that the Drone to 1K Podcast will inspire you to take the plunge and succeed with your own drone business.
[00:00:00] Welcome to season six, episode two of the Drone to 1K podcast. I'm David Young, I'm your host, and today I'm talking with my good friend Cody Rettlich of Midwest Aerial Productions and Dronidaire. we last talked to Cody, I believe, in 2020, and he's given us an update on his business from 2020. to 2023 and all the awesome stuff that happened.
So we talk about him filming all the drone shots for the Ryder Cup, doing a bunch of cell tower inspections, and a bunch of other really cool work that he's done. And then he talks about his new business that he launched, which is called Dronadare. Tells us what that is, and why it's good. So, hope you guys enjoy this episode.
Let's get right into it with Cody Rettlich.
David Young: All right, welcome back to the podcast, Cody Rettlich from Midwest Aerial Productions and also Drone Adair. Thanks for coming on, Cody.
Cody Retlich: You bet. Thanks for having me. I appreciate
David Young: it. Yeah. So if you don't know this already, Cody is a. Repeat guest on the drone to one K podcast. He's been kind enough to [00:01:00] return for season six.
He was originally on season two, episode nine, and we were actually just looking that up and that was in the spring of 2020 that that was released. I think you and I either recorded that like late 2019 or very early 2020. so about three years ago now. excited to have you back on and, and give some updates about.
How your drone business has been doing since then, how life's been going, any other cool, things you got going on. So I'm looking forward to getting the update.
Cody Retlich: Yeah, it's wild. We were just talking about it. I know earlier, it's doesn't seem like three years. I feel like it's, it was yesterday, but also then again, I feel like I've known you now for 10 years or more.
So it's insane that, um, it really only has been three years, but I guess it's, it's like 10
David Young: years, 10 years, you know,
Cody Retlich: and you know, pandemic years. It's actually a couple, so, but yeah, I'm happy to be back on. It's exciting to see ones where, where you guys have come to just the industry as a whole is exciting.
Kind of where we're going as well.
David Young: [00:02:00] so for people who have not listened to your, your past episode, let's say somebody's just diving in and they stumble across this episode, they have no idea who you are. Why don't we first start off with giving just kind of a quick kind of recap of when you started your business, how you started and then, you know, all the way up until 2020 do that kind of like the expedited version, give us the cliff notes version of how you started your business and where it went from then until 2020.
Cody Retlich: All right, cliff notes. I can do that. I mean, drones have been flying for 10 years, for fun.
really didn't start actually getting into drones until, college where worked on a market research project that was all around agriculture and drones, which was kind of blew my mind at that time of where drones were going to be in the future. And, you know, that was almost a decade ago. so it was kind of insane to see what it had already.
Transpired to be back then. So that's where I started the love for, drones kind of get introduced to it. Uh, and then [00:03:00] worked in sales for a couple of years after school, hated it. I absolutely hated it. And I wanted to do something, I hated sales. It was not, not about the sales. I think it was more about.
Like just the process of the company that I was working for more than anything, right. It was just, just ridiculous. They were, you know, it was, what are you doing for me today? Right. And it's always that mentality. So in sales, but, I wanted to do something more passionate and that was drones for sure.
So I, I hopped on, quit my job, started catting. I was in straights. If you've heard the story, I did it from networking and marketing
David Young: You quit your job and then went to go caddy. So like, you weren't even, it wasn't even like your drone business was. The drone business has
Cody Retlich: not been up yet.
I had the name, I had my license. I was ready to go with a couple of clients, but I wasn't at the point where I was like, all right, I'm making enough money per month to just fully quit. So I'm like, let's go get this side gig really only do it, four or five times a week, but. It, it allowed me the [00:04:00] flexibility where I'd only work probably like five to six hours a day.
Um, when I was there where I could really then build the business and, and grow that and have the flexibility to kind of, do what I needed to, to start this business.
David Young: So, caddying at Whistling Straits, um, you were doing that. Did you, I'm assuming you met some cool people
Cody Retlich: that way. Yeah, for sure.
We met a lot of awesome people, a lot of executives, big time names that, that you guys would know in the industry, but also like golf industry, but every time you're there, you never know who is going to pass by you at some point, right? I mean, I've seen past. Presidents.
I've seen, the biggest of the big from Jason Day to, I think Rory was there a couple of times I've, I've seen a lot of people just pass through there it's just amazing place to be. It's an awesome office. doing that, I kind of also just picked a lot of the executives brains of like top level companies that I was meeting, to understand kind of like if they were going to use drones in the future, if they had heard of.
Drones being used for inspections or for [00:05:00] whatever else I kind of attributed to what I thought their business could use. And then kind of learned from that and started map, did that for a couple of years, uh, kind of transitioned it into more of a brokerage model because I saw. a fit for a more hands on approach rather than your typical marketplaces out there, of what they were
David Young: quick.
So map explain what map is to everyone since you didn't, you haven't talked about that acronym yet.
Cody Retlich: So Midwest arial productions. Uh, and where are you from? I'm from Wisconsin, or as people think I say, Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Um, depending on where I'm from.
David Young: So you're doing like cheese curd delivery and stuff?
Totally.
Cody Retlich: How did you know? Yeah, for sure. I did just map. 360 acres in Wisconsin, in a town called Cheeseville, Wisconsin. So Wisconsin thing you could do. And I had people even from Wisconsin, like that's not a real place. Like you're, I'm not actually like, this is real, but it was funny.
I'm like, this is
David Young: insane. [00:06:00] let's talk about that. what were you mapping out?
Cody Retlich: farm field. for the farmers. And then there was also for the sale of the farm. So it was going to auction. We were, doing some marketing along with us, like kind of, uh, mapping out all the different properties and the different, tracks.
David Young: Gotcha. Cool. Yeah. Keysville. Um, All right. So when you said, you know, you started map and then you went to a brokerage model, what does that mean? And, kind of explain that a bit. Yeah.
Cody Retlich: I mean, when I started originally, it was just local stuff, right? It was understanding kind of what industries were going to use drones back then and how they're going to use them.
but. I kind of started gaining traction, across the Midwest and then got some clients throughout the United States that then kind of kept pushing the boundaries to what we could do. and I think why we were so successful is because we weren't. A typical marketplace. We were really paying the pilots what they deserve.
We were being hands on with them, finding the right pilot for a client specific needs. So we kind of transitioned into the way of let's do it. Let's figure [00:07:00] out exactly what these clients needs from, you know, if they need thermal, if they need mapping, if they need a certain certification or, you know, a certain type of drone, rather than just throwing out.
A job and seeing who creates the lowest bid or who's sitting at the computer first and can click, accept first, congrats, you got the job, but you're never going to get reoccurring work from that, client. and you're probably going to be underpaid and now you're just subscribing to the, race to the bottom mentality of what a lot of these are.
Right. So we didn't want to do that. We flipped the margins on, on their heads from what typically. And we just built a lot of really great relationships with the pilots and then our clients. And then, by doing that figured out a better way to potentially provide a service and a SAS solution for both sides of that market.
David Young: Yeah. And, from what I know about your business too, it's like you were doing the drone work and. People were finding your website and asking you to do drone jobs, but they just happened to be kind of all over the place. [00:08:00] So instead of just being like, ah, we can't do that. You were just like, Hey, let me see if I can find a pilot that I can work with in that area.
And it kind of just naturally expanded that way, right? Where you just kept getting jobs in different places. Or like, I remember you said you got a contract to inspect a bunch of cell towers, right? And you had to go find a bunch of pilots all over the country to help you with that job. and complete that since they were all over the place.
And the only alternative was for you to basically not live at home anymore and just fly constantly.
Cody Retlich: I didn't want to do that. I had trouble doing other stuff in the past. I was like, yeah, it's not for me, but. In that way. Yeah, we also went to clients from my sales background.
I seeked out a lot of clients that I thought were great for, for drones, but we had a couple of nice contracts that were across the United States that allowed us to expand the network and become more of that brokerage model, which again, Led to us growing the network pretty
David Young: rapidly. that's awesome.
so what year did you start all this up?
Cody Retlich: map [00:09:00] officially started, I believe in 2017, 2016, 2016,
David Young: 2016, 2017. Kind of beginning of the part 107 era, if you will, to 2020, what were like some of your like key highlights, maybe like favorite jobs or like biggest contracts, something like that.
What were some of the biggest milestones that you hit?
Cody Retlich: Some of them I still can't name because I have NDAs with them, but you know, or whatever you can't say, large insurance clients for sure. big cell towers. my favorite job to this date is still being a part of the Ryder cup at whistling straights.
There's no doubt about that. Um, that scheduled for 2020, they actually pushed it back to 2021. So all the year, actually all the Ryder cup gear still says 20, 20 on it. which is kind of crazy because it didn't happen until 2021, but they didn't want to change all the branding and they already ordered all this merch and stuff.
So yeah, they, they went with it, but yeah, being part of that was, was still today. probably my favorite job just cause it [00:10:00] had a special place in my heart. being a caddy there for a few years and, oh yeah. Um, or a few seasons, I should say.
David Young: so let's talk about, so you, you know, basically insurance companies sell towers.
That was kind of some big stuff in 20 or from 2017 to 2020. So then let's pick up in 2020, and go from there because these are going to be fresh stories that no one's ever heard, even if, they listened to your old episode. it sounds like one of the first things that happened was you getting a job to do work for the Ryder cup, which they hold that at risk whistling straights, the golf course.
Is that right?
Cody Retlich: They did. They did that year. So it rotates all the time. It's every two years. It's either in the United States or in Europe. and don't quote me on this, but I think it's like seven years out that they plan for each, or eight years out of every single one. Yeah. So they, there's sites that are already determined for a ways out and, and Whistling got it.
Um, and I don't know if they'll ever get another one. I hope they would, but that's probably the really the only. they've had PGA championships, there's in the past, you know, [00:11:00] U S senior open things like that. it's just an amazing event to have at your course and it's, it's Europe versus United States.
So it's a true party, which golf is usually not. That's
David Young: awesome. So, so I guess first tell us, what did you end up doing for that golf tournament? And then I'd be interested to hear more details on like how you went about.
Cody Retlich: Well, because of my relationship with the course, I kind of had reached out ahead of time.
I had done footage for the course and for, for the company that owned, uh, whistling straights. So, you know, I was able to, to do some of that stuff ahead of time. And Ryder Cup, Europe was actually, they're, they're different entities. So they're all separate, entities, Europe. U S and just Ryder Cup in general.
so they kind of had passed my name off and maps name off to, Ryder Cup Europe, and we ended up doing some whole flyovers and some FPV tours, stuff of like T to green, uh, and clubhouse and that type of stuff. And then, uh, you just did a bunch [00:12:00] of other stuff for the course as well, being a part of, pre tournament type setup of what goes in to putting on a Ryreco.
David Young: Well, I remember seeing some of your footage on TV when I was watching TV. at least I remember seeing A golf shot in a commercial that I think he shot. And then there was another one that was like during the Ryder cup, some really cool, like FPV fly through stuff.
And then some other shots that ended up on TV. So you're saying Ryder cup Europe hired you and then. The footage that you got for them ended up on like the being broadcast or how did that work? Yeah, they, they
Cody Retlich: broadcasted it during, the television, you know, era of it. the commercial stuff actually was for a couple other clients as well that were larger, local companies.
The, in the Wisconsin area that actually. Just, we shot separate commercials for them. Oh, really? Super not. Yeah. So they, I actually didn't even know that those were airing and I just randomly was watching the Ryder cup and they turned on and I was like. [00:13:00] I was like, I know, I know where that came from. Um, I knew, I knew what we were shooting for, but I didn't know that they were going to be airing during the Ryder Cup.
So that was pretty cool. But yeah, the FPV stuff, we, we, we, uh, you know, brokered out some amazing crew from IDT that, um, we had a 45 minute window with the trophy, and literally. We, got it on the third take and, we were able to, to get it done, but it was, a tight timeline for us because the trophy is so coveted that it, it has a schedule and it's a very tight schedule of when you can have that trophy.
So,
David Young: describe the shot that they wanted you to get. Was this like dictated by, Ryder cup Europe with like, Hey, here's what we envisioned for the shot. Here's what we want. Or were they like, Hey, make us something cool. And then you guys had to come up with it. Like, well, how did that work?
Cody Retlich: we kind of collaborated on it together for a while.
Um, kind of, you know, a couple meetings back and forth. Initially, we knew that they want to do some sort of FPV stuff. We did on course compilations of things too. So certain [00:14:00] holes we did, Like 12 was a very significant par three. It's, it's one of the most famous ones on the course, as well as 17.
So we did a couple of there where they, you know, when the final groups were coming up to the, those holes, they actually aired those during the, during the broadcast, um, which was pretty awesome. are you doing that with
David Young: FPV stuff or was that just regular economic drone cinematography? No, that was
Cody Retlich: FPV.
Yeah. So. Uh, and then the clubhouse to T idea just kind of formed Um, I had thought in my head because nobody has ever flown in the clubhouse there That we should show this off we did, luckily we got the approvals. It took a while and a lot of people, but they, they allowed us to do it.
we ended up going up the clubhouse through the locker rooms and like showing off where they were and then kind of their journey. To the first tee. So their walk like that morning of the first day of the Ryder cup. And then like we put in crowd noise into the stadium [00:15:00] of like when they would walk out and circled the trophy.
And then, um, got that
David Young: feeling. I remember a shot. I don't know at what point this was. Don't you fly or not you, but your team fly through a car window or something. When does that happen?
Cody Retlich: Yeah, right away. We'd come underneath the walk and then we come through a, you know, I don't a hundred thousand plus.
Dollar beamer that we, you know, went through the car windows to, and then immediately into the clubhouse front doors.
David Young: And then you go through the clubhouse, locker rooms, and then you go out to the first tee.
Cody Retlich: Yeah, well, up the stairs, into the clubhouse, through the window of the clubhouse, down below like a little trellis that is like a walkway, over a patio to the, locker rooms, through the locker rooms, through the whole facilities that the players have, and then out to the walkway and through the tee box and through the
David Young: stadium.
do you still have that clip or that footage? Is that somewhere? Like, is that on YouTube or anything that we should
Cody Retlich: link it up? Yeah, well, we can find the link for this for [00:16:00] sure. Yeah. We'll put
David Young: it, we'll put it somewhere. I don't know where you're watching us somewhere below or show notes or something you can look around for.
We'll try to link up that, that shot. All right. That's awesome. did you end up having to do any drone flying yourself on this or did you just get all team members to fly all this stuff? Yeah. FPV,
Cody Retlich: no. Um, we had a team, I think there was like four or five of us there that day for that.
Um, but all the, all the whole flyover stuff and then all the pre, you know, everything that was not FPV, I was flying Inspire 2, Inspire 2 for that.
David Young: I want to inspire to now, were you getting some, was someone else doing the camera operating or are you doing the whole thing?
Cody Retlich: Uh, no, I had it. Yeah. We had a cam up and then, uh, drone up.
So I drone opt for most of it or cam up for some of the whole flyovers. Cause just like to, there were certain things that we were doing with the whole flyovers or that the client was doing with like strokes gained and whatnot that they wanted. So there's graphics that came up on the whole flyover.
So at certain times, like we wanted. The camera to tilt down as we were flying up so that they could like put a graphic over the green, [00:17:00] show the undulation and show if, you know, someone goes in this bunker, how many strokes on average, are they going to lose or gain or how, yeah, this side of the fairway, you know, how much, how much that'll affect their round.
David Young: So, so you had to have the camera a certain position or certain margins of spots, uh, specific times. Yeah, that's cool. a lot of planning. It sounds like that goes into all that stuff.
Cody Retlich: The FPV stuff. I mean, we were there for a full day and we pretty much spent like four or five hours planning and then flying course.
Probably for maybe two hours, three hours if you know, so it's equal amount of planning for on course or on day for what just
David Young: to get that, just to get that one
Cody Retlich: shot. We did some on course stuff too while we were, while we were, Oh yeah, a couple hours for sure. just for the one shot.
David Young: all right. So that's early, I guess, 2021 at that point, 2020 into 2021. I think, you know, one nice thing about, you were talking about getting that job. it's like you had some existing relationships from [00:18:00] having worked there and from knowing some of those people and kind of.
Being a little bit proactive. I, it sounds like in asking them about doing footage for like, how did that work? Did you just go to the people you knew there and said, Hey, I would love to do drone stuff for the Ryder cup. That's coming. Who can I talk to about that? Like, what did that conversation sound
Cody Retlich: like?
Yeah. I mean, I had the, like I mentioned before I had the relationship ahead of time, so, I mean, I was dropping little notes for years beforehand of kind of like, Hey, whenever the Ryder cup comes, anything I can be involved in, obviously, you know, I would love to be, so it was kind of a built up relationship because they, like, they're, like I said, they're planned out for years ahead of time.
So I kind of knew that it was, coming and I could plant that seed early. So you're just using the existing relationships to kind of start that and then. You know, they were, they were gracious enough to just drop our names as well, to pretty much everyone else that, that needed drone stuff that they could think of, [00:19:00] which was, was
David Young: awesome.
Nice. That's great, man., let's rewind real quick from 2017 to 2020. Can you give us just like a sense of how your business was doing revenue wise, like in those early years and as it progressed through 2020, I don't know how specific you want to get.
Everybody loves specific numbers and I don't want to force anything out of you, but like, can you just give us a sense of what that was like and your growth
Cody Retlich: early on? It was. It was, it was, yeah, it was a side hustle money, right? It was nothing crazy. I was doing it as a side hustle to try to build it up and gain clients.
And until about year two ish, like maybe a half year and a half to two is when I really, then it started like, okay. Actually, I caddy for two full seasons and then that next season, I was one day a week because it was, a full time gig at that point. I just kept whistling to keep, uh, some relationships going and some, some free golf, uh, when I could, so literally it was, um, You know, by year [00:20:00] three, it was a full time job for me personally, you know, making great money, as just flying drones.
And, and then as we pivoted, it became, you know, six figure business and, and above, and then. We kind of were able to transition more into that brokerage model and started gaining and landing more of these larger clients until we decided to pivot once again.
David Young: so let's talk about that.
So, well, first off, thanks for the recap. I think that just helps people get a sense of. Time and, you know, what the possibilities are sticking with something actually on that note, it's funny. I was writing. Um, so we've got this thing. If you guys are not familiar, it's called the one K club. So we have a course called Jonah one K.
If people go through that course, once they crack their first thousand dollar month, they like report all their jobs and stuff in this little portal we have, they report their revenue. So once they crack their first K month, yeah. We like welcome them to the one K club and part of you get this little box with like as good as like a plaque and a shirt and all stuff.
But one of the things I usually, I write a handwritten note that we put in the boxes. So, um, I was writing one today [00:21:00] for a guy that, that is going to be a part of that is joining that. And I was like, just looking up some quick stats on my phone. I'm like, I wonder how long, like, I wonder how long it normally takes for like a business to, to make money or to like make one cake.
Cause this person hadn't been going for super long. It didn't seem like, but I was Googling some stuff and it said that on average, Businesses. It takes them 18 to 24 months just to be profitable. Not even to like make a whole bunch of money, but just to be profitable. And then it says. 20, I think they said 25 percent of businesses don't even make it to year two.
They're like folding the fact that within whatever, 24 months you were making enough to be full time. And then it grew from there was, you know, I think that's awesome. Is that, was that any
Cody Retlich: business or is that drone businesses?
David Young: Oh, it was just any business. It was like general small business.
Yeah, this was, this was really in depth, 45 second Google search type of numbers. So, you know. Don't pull my feet to the fire. Yeah, I
Cody Retlich: would be to see that though, too, like from a drone business perspective of like how many people, either [00:22:00] a want to take it full time or have the ability to, be a full time, but I are still keeping it as a side hustle because I know plenty of pilots that are like.
They're making enough, at their main job and also not drones that they're almost making to sell, you know, to very low salaries, um, to do it. But I would just love to see those stats.
David Young: I know some people like that where they're just like. I work for the government or something like that, like I get insurance, got nice job security, like I don't want to give up the cushiness of it, but they're making a pretty good amount of money with drones.
If they did it full time, they could, they could kill it, but it's just kind of like, I don't want the volatility of business ownership. You know, it's kind of nice to have a steady paycheck.
Cody Retlich: Yeah, for sure. It's a, it's a grind and it's not for everybody, but it's, you know, one of the most rewarding things I would say if you can, if you can do
David Young: it for sure.
Yeah. Rewarding, but also has its own layers of stress involved at times. thanks for the recap. Helpful to know. I think it's helpful for people listening. so talk about, you know, you, you still have Midwest aerial productions, even today, right?
Like, sounds like you were out mapping a [00:23:00] cheese farm, right? Cheeseville What kind of farm was it? Obviously there's no such thing as a cheese
Cody Retlich: farm, but, uh, it's just a lot. I mean, it. They, you know, growing alfalfa corn, it's kind of, it was a dairy farm, but also I had a lot of crops and stuff.
Dairy
David Young: farm. That's kind of like cheese farm. I'm just saying. Yeah,
Cody Retlich: for sure. They definitely, they ship the dairy off to get made into cheese. Yeah. It can't be called cheeseville for nothing.
David Young: So I'm assuming that was probably part of map too, right?
Cody Retlich: That was part of map. Yeah. And honestly, just.
I don't do a whole lot of those anymore, but it was literally very close to me, which is kind of also wild because I thought I would have heard of it by then, but it was, you know, it's like 35, 40 minutes away. So some of those things, if I'm around and I, if I have the time, I'm, I'm still love to do it. And, and, uh, you know, keeps me
David Young: sharp.
Yeah. As I said, I think it. Probably good. Kind of keeps you in the game, so to speak of like interacting with clients, [00:24:00] knowing what people want, see where the market's at, all that good stuff. So for a job like that, how long did something like that take you to do?
Cody Retlich: That was about four
David Young: hours. Okay. And then would you, do you mind sharing like kind of what the revenue is like on a job like that?
Cody Retlich: Uh, it was like 2, 500.
David Young: Okay. Yeah.
Cody Retlich: Not bad. Yeah. Not bad at all. No, for sure. I, it's a good hourly.
David Young: Dude, you should call me. I would have flown up. but no, that's awesome, man. Okay. So you've got map. You're still doing some things here and there with that. but I know you have. Another thing that you've started also, which is like a software SAS, kind of company.
So after we did our season two, episode nine, I talked to Cody. I realized he was crushing it. Right. He was like doing six figures with all this stuff. And I'm like, dude, this is when I, right when we were creating the drone to one K course, the first version we ever did, I was like, Hey man, I want to do a drone business course.
Right. I started drone launch Academy as a training business. I had flown drones and done, you know, some jobs here and there, but it wasn't like my main focus. But I interviewed all these people on the podcast who were crushing it. And that was their [00:25:00] main focus. And I was like, so I don't want to make a.
Course on this by myself because I don't have credibility and you know, I don't know what I'm talking about compared to someone like you. So Cody was gracious enough to be one of our like main instructors and talk about all the stuff from sales and marketing, how to get clients, all that, all that important stuff.
So I flew up to. And we filmed, together and that's when I got to know you a lot better. Yeah. I think we actually had some cheese curds with some bar. I think we did have some, I think we did
Cody Retlich: actually. Yeah. That's funny. I had to break in. give you some spotted cow and some cheese curds.
I mean, you can't leave Wisconsin without
David Young: them. so anyway, so we, we became friends then. And then shortly afterwards, you know, we had follow up conversations and, and you were like, Hey, I really have this vision to start this kind of software that I think will help drone pilots. And I just like, it's been really cool to see you stick with it and see it develop.
And now it's like a real thing. So I don't want to give too much away. I'll let you talk. Why don't you tell us about what that is and what it does. Yeah, no, I appreciate
Cody Retlich: it. It It is crazy to see kind of, the transition because I've been wanting to do it for [00:26:00] probably four to five years, but really the last two and a half years is when we started developing it.
and we finally have a first. Version paid product for the pilot side of the platform. back in May that we released and we're, we're super excited, you know, um, to have pilots on it, using it and giving us feedback because it was started for them in mind, because at the end of the day, we felt. That we wanted to help pilots grow and scale a business that they can make it full time.
Because like, as we talked about in the past, there's a lot of other companies that are doing brokerage, uh, in a way where it's not helpful for anybody, but themselves, like the
David Young: pilot networks and stuff out there. Exactly.
Cody Retlich: Yeah. Everyone, you know, I feel like there's so many pilot networks out there these days.
Right. But the real common. Problem that we found was that, you know, pilots aren't able to create these reoccurring relationships. And at the same time, they're having 50 to 60 percent of their time, just doing tasks that they [00:27:00] don't like to do. Right. They want to get back to flying and that's what we have created.
So it was kind of with us working with hundreds and thousands of pilots throughout the last, you know, six, seven years, really. we kind of taken a lot of their feedback, our own experiences and put it into something where, they can use it to automate their business from the operational backend standpoint.
So book jobs, get paid, use it as a mission management file transfer structure. So client management all in one, with your current clients, with your prospective clients. Um, but then, uh, our enterprise model that'll come out later this year, then we really take That that brokerage model to a new level where, um, we allow, you know, these pilots to tap into larger pilot network groups or companies that need drone services continuously.
Right. And then they can kind of be able to create these reoccurring relationships, but these clients then also get a [00:28:00] way for them. To automate their distribution of missions and data and deliverables and, know that they're going to get a quality product, but also consistently and not have to find and locate and vet and interview all these pilots and not know where they were, you know, how did they get the files from them?
What license did they have or are they insured everything on one, right? So It's giving both enterprise clients, drone pilots and drone companies, SAS tools to automate, you know, their business, together, but then it's also giving them a way for them to interact and create reoccurring relationships rather than just these one off.
Type of, of jobs that, they can both grow their businesses together then
David Young: and real quick, it's called drone there. You never said that.
Cody Retlich: I never interviewed it or not, but yes, I introduced
David Young: it at the very beginning and you also have a shirt on. So, I mean, I think people can figure it out. I am in a
Cody Retlich: blank office right now too, because we just moved.
So usually there's something up there about it, but I couldn't [00:29:00] remember.
David Young: Yeah, no, I think it's, uh, I think it's really cool. You know, it's, it basically replaces your billing. Showing people your portfolio, booking jobs so it can almost kind of replace your website. A lot of these kind of things that you would have to set up or pay for individually, even just at the base level.
so I think it's pretty nice, a
Cody Retlich: drone pilot's perspective, yeah, I mean, you look at it as a sales funnel slash marketing tool slash, invoicing proposals. file management, transfer, all that stuff really into one for sure, but it's geared towards drone pilots and creatives.
David Young: Yeah, so you don't have to use Dropbox or Google Drive. I, I haven't used this software a lot. Not, not yours, but um, like another one. So I know for like wedding photographers and stuff, there's like HoneyBook, I'm not sure if you've ever heard of that. Yeah, yeah. It feels like a little bit like that. But for drone pilots, again, I don't have a ton of experience with that, but just from, in
Cody Retlich: a certain way.
Yeah, in a way there's definitely some similar certain to it for sure. Certain elements, it's just more geared towards drone pilots and obviously then the connection of the enterprise is, is where we
David Young: really differentiate. The [00:30:00] next kind of like level of, yeah, that's awesome. So if you guys are interested, don't worry.
This is not like a sponsored podcast to just, he's gone. I want it. I just think it's a great software. And so I want to talk about it. one more thing just something that's awesome that I just love that you do that. I want to call you on. I literally text Cody about
Cody Retlich: this.
I'm like, I already know what you're going to talk about. What do you
David Young: say when you're trying to do this? Like I'm, I'm, I'm sober here trying to extract tips from Cody. So Cody is the king of trading services. Like this man gets so much crap for free, like vacations, a garage door, a garage floor, all this stuff.
And he gets it for free by negotiating trades with people. So just tell us real quick about What you're getting for your Ritz Carlton. And not only does he get straight, he usually gets stuff for free and then figured out how to get paid like on top of it for doing this crap. full disclosure.
I want to turf my backyard and get like an awning built out there, um, with some [00:31:00] other stuff. It's probably like 15 grand worth of work, at least in my backyard. I'm not going to pay for that right now. So I'm over here like, all right, Cody, what can I do to get this down or free? But tell us, so you're going to the Ritz Carlton in Hawaii, right.
And playing golf and doing a whole bunch of other stuff. Yeah, basically for free and kind of getting paid too, right?
Cody Retlich: We're going to break even and probably make a little bit after we're done with everything. But, um, you're
David Young: getting paid to go on vacation at the Ritz Carlton in Hawaii.
Cody Retlich: Yeah. So we were, we were going to go out to Hawaii. Uh, a couple of friends of ours they had won a trip, from their, work. And they asked us to go with, and I said, no, but yes, like I would love to, but You know, just bought a house and it's expensive and we were just there a couple of weeks, but I'm like, wait, let me just, let me just try to work something
David Young: out or that Cody brain comes
Cody Retlich: in.
Yeah, I'm not going to say no yet. Let me just try to find something. Right. So I kind of reached out to some contacts that I had in the past. [00:32:00] from there, from my previous trips, I did work with a golf course there in the past. so I reached out to them, they kind of made a connection. I told them I was looking for, place to stay to trade.
And then they had a couple of contacts for me at the Ritz, which we ended up working on a deal for. And then I reached out a couple other places and we got some. trades as well with that. And then also some, money on top for creating some content and just providing some raw footage and photos and things like that too.
So. all in all, I was kind of, I was thinking about the other day, I was like adding it up because they even offered a pretty sick deal to our friends for a rate for like a room rate, which I'm like, okay, if we're adding all this up, it's 15 to 20 K very easily. And if you were to go spend cash
David Young: on that, yeah,
Cody Retlich: for sure.
And I'm going to make a little bit of cash off of it. Um, actually I won't because I. Bought some new equipment just for it, but That's why I'm breaking even I'm like, Oh, well, I'm going to get a new, I'm going to rent a lens. I'm [00:33:00] going to, I already had a Mavic three pro ready to rock. I just bought a couple other accessories for it and all this other stuff.
I'm like, you know what?
David Young: So you're shooting some like marketing materials for the Ritz Carlton hotel, right? And then are you doing some stuff for the golf course too? Yeah. So a couple
Cody Retlich: of golf courses, two different golf courses, and then the Ritz. So, we'll be shooting a whole bunch of drone stuff for both of them.
We're doing some, fun flyovers and some, you know, fun marketing material for them. Some behind the scenes and some social media stuff. So there'll be, there'll be a bunch out there, but yeah, it's kind of exciting to see that. It happened so quickly and immediately once it all kind of came together, I was like, Why am I not doing this more for trips? Like this is, I I've done it in the past, but I've not done it to this level. because I just haven't really given it a go at it for trips. I do it for everything else, but I just don't do it for trips. I'm like, I need to do this more often. This is awesome.
David Young: I love it.
I'll try to copy your. but
Cody Retlich: why not? You're going to pay for this stuff anyway, right?
David Young: Yeah. here's the thing. I [00:34:00] think people, you get afraid of rejection We have a drone business course, right? When we talk people through this, like, Oh, just call someone like kind of just get over the fear of like, uh, someone turning you down or whatever.
But I can see how people get hung up. Cause even as I was thinking about reaching out, I'm like, well, shoot, how would I approach this? I'm like, what would I say? What would I show them? And you know, like you get nervous thinking like, well, what if they. Think that that sucks and what if they're like offended, you know, and you're in the
Cody Retlich: same exact spot as I know beforehand So I don't matter right and
David Young: I know I know exactly
Cody Retlich: the fear of rejection is real But I I think once you can get over that who cares at that point.
It's like, all right. No, no worries You're good. I know like then I'll move on to the next one I I probably reached out to 20 people or 20 different places or companies or things like that, not places, There was a couple of snorkeling tours. There's a couple like catamaran stuff, like some zipline, like that type of stuff, you know, because I was going to do a whole vacation off of like a couple hours of work at each one of these spots.
And then, you know, so it turned out that, the first three [00:35:00] ended up working out eventually, but right away, I probably messaged right? Like within the first couple of days. So it's awesome.
David Young: It's awesome. So if you learn anything from this, this podcast episode, if you have any type of drone skills, video production skills, offer up a trade there, at least maybe they'll give you a discount.
I've
Cody Retlich: seen it work in so many different ways to like, you know, creators with athletes, giving them free content, like training their services, obviously like you're getting experience, you're getting portfolio work, you're getting. The discount of you not buying, or, you know, if you're trading that type of stuff, like you're trading either marketing or portfolio for your own, or you're trading stuff that you're going to buy for anyway.
And a relationship starter with some clients that you might want to become closer with in the future. So, you know, it's just opens the doors to more opportunity as well. And then more people might see yourself eventually.
David Young: Love it. maybe if we do a third episode with you in the future, I can report back on if I got free turf or not.
And
Cody Retlich: maybe I'll have a Well, [00:36:00] I can, yeah, we'll have to give you a little script rundown or something
David Young: we need to do a workshop in, our Drone Launch Connect membership. This only how to get free stuff by trading your Transfer.
Cody Retlich: Let's do it. I, I would bring. A bunch of examples.
I just got it. We got a free invisible fence coming. Uh, when I get back for my dog, because we were trained in install video for it. How do you
David Young: even film an invisible fence? Cody, what do you do?
Cody Retlich: They have, it's invisible, right? Yeah, they have a machine. It's kind of like, uh, believe
David Young: me guys, you don't see anything in this video, but there's a fence, there's
Cody Retlich: a fence being installed, guys on the machine installing it around your property, it's kind of like Drake digs a trench and then puts like the wire below the property and then showing them off like doing the training of the dog and that type of stuff. So, I mean, yeah, it's you find a way, right? I mean, if they need the content and they're down for it, I mean, they're going to pay for content anyway.
So if they can just at the end of the day, they only have their cost to write. So, yeah. [00:37:00]
David Young: Why not for them then hire then then taking profit money and then hiring a video production crew, right? Like everybody's like operating a little bit cheaper rates for sure. Yeah, I love man. Cool. Well, thanks for coming on you guys want to check out Cody Midwest aerial productions Midwest area production calm.
Yeah, you're on Instagram Midwest area production in Drone and Air also Drone and Air spelled drone a D A I R. Correct. Correct. All this stuff up to. Yeah. Um, so check all that stuff out. Um, also if you just want to see more of Cody's face, you might from our Drone 1K program. Go back and listen to his other older podcast episode if you want.
Cody, thanks for coming on, man. Appreciate it. Yeah,
Cody Retlich: for sure. Thanks for having me. I always enjoy it.