Holding Pattern

Just as quickly as I was drinking from a fire hose, the valve shut off and I'm back in a holding pattern.

From the field:

It's been a planning week this week. Part of the logistics of this operation is that I live 2+ hours away from where I'll be spraying. So a lot of this stuff is being done via phone/email at this point. When I make a trip over there, I have to have my priorities in order otherwise I feel like I'm not maximizing my trip. That said, another trip is in the works for early next week. I'd really like to get in front of farmers to figure out field mapping, but it may be conflicting with planting. Depends on how wet everything still is - there's a lot of rain forecasted for the weekend. If I think everyone is going to be in the field, maybe I bring the drone and a few batteries back with me so I can practice flying the thing.

I may also need to meet with another drone pilot. My #1 option just told me he's going to be on a fishing trip in the middle of the season, so I am going to need a backup. I'm actually ok with this, because if I plan to expand next year, I'm going to need 3 pilots instead of 1. Might as well get a second pilot trained this year and get a head start on 2025.

Biggest concern at this point - the trailer buildout. After visiting a manufacturing company almost two weeks ago, I still haven't received an estimate. Time's a tickin'! If I don't hear back within the next week, I may have to call an audible and find someone else that can do this. We're down to about 2.5 months until go time, and I want to be able to do some real practice with it before we go live that first day. In addition, there will be some things I need to build on it myself I’m guessing. I don’t think they’ll put all the pieces in place, they’ll just do the skeleton of it.

As a side note, I had an interesting conversation with a former co-worker of mine who is also thinking about becoming an entrepreneur. He made a comment about my drone only being in the air for less than 2 months of the year, and what could I do to maximize the air time of the drones. So my wheels are turning on that one…

From the office:

What I'm realizing is that there are so many different directions I could go at this point. Let me elaborate. Right now I've got "office" work that dominates 10 months of the year, and then 2 months of the year I'm in the field. Do I try to maximize these 10 months of the year, or do I maximize the 2? Or is there a way to do both? These are the things I'm thinking about right now, but I have decided that once we get to October-ish, I'm going to ramp up the search for work that pays the rate I need. Right now I've done a decent job of filling about half my 40 hour work week, but most of the work isn't paying what I should be getting paid.

If the ag business takes off like I think it can, then I can always ratchet back the consulting work. As of right now, that's the end goal, but I really don't mind the consulting work. Especially when I'm working on multiple clients that have unique goals, problems, requests from me, etc.

What I'm reading:

Still reading different Facebook groups, but it's more targeted now. As an example, I'm trying to determine what people are doing to protect their drones during the driving from field to field, and ultimately at the end of the day. Is there some sort of container they're being put in, are they using a cover?

Thanks for hanging in - until next week!