The Drone Downtime Guide

As COVID-19 becomes more dominant in our everyday lives and international efforts to minimize the virus through social distancing are in place, many of us have resorted to working from home. While this reality takes some getting used to, it can also provide employees and business owners alike a rewarding experience.

Staying productive while breaking the regular day to day routine can pose a challenge, but it also offers room for creativity and allows you to work on projects that may have been neglected up until now.

Finding meaningful projects and tasks while working in this unfamiliar reality is an opportunity to look at the bright side of things during these troubling times. As drone professionals, there is always something more to learn - or something to attend to.

We’ve compiled a list of tips to keep you productive while adjusting to your new work space, as well as suggested methods to help you advance your drone skills and business during this time.

Improve Your Image/Video Editing Skills

While you may already have great experience with video editing and image processing software, you probably know that the learning curve is endless. YouTube can be a great tool filled with guides and structured lesson plans.

Likewise, online courses through services such as Coursera or Udemy will not only help pass the time, but help you gain valuable knowledge that can boost your business efforts later on.

Many drone training schools are offering online additions of their courses. A detailed guide can be found here.

Another option, take a course that will teach you how to generate, analyze and visualize drone mapping outputs via Pix4D.

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Enhance Your Portfolio

Remember that awesome showreel you always wanted to create/update? Now is the time to do it! Go through your top projects and look for the brightest drone moments and produce an impressive product that makes both you and your clients stand out. Compile these into a showreel that will visualize your quality of service and product. Needs some inspiration? Go through existing showreels and see what other pilots in your industry did to stand out.

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Perfect Your Website

This is the perfect time to refresh your visuals. Write that blog post you always wanted, put together an updated pricing tab, or design your new website. Free online resources such as HubSpot, Canva, and Buffer can be a great way to develop new marketing skills. Some of the preferred website design solutions are Wix, WordPress, WebFlow (check out their huge online university) and Elementor.

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Increase Your Social Media Presence‍

Start engaging more on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or maybe even LinkedIn. You don’t have to be everywhere, but remember that you can learn and connect with others out there. Even if you don’t have an active page you can always join a professional group or a forum, meet fellow pilots and learn about what’s hot and what’s not in the drone industry.

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Get Organized

With all this indoor time on your hands, there's no excuse for letting any clutter build up. Whether it's your workspace, car, or inbox - start getting organized. You can also take the time to clean your drone properly, along with your SD cards. Go through your materials, backup, archive or throw away and who knows? Maybe there's a hidden gem waiting to be found.

Tips for Staying Productive, From Home

Stick to a Schedule

Maintaining your usual work hours is a great way to stay on track while working from home. If you are used to a 9-5 work day, keep that up. Start your day as usual by getting dressed and ready for a day at the office. Before you know it, we’ll be returning to work as usual - and when that time comes, you don’t want to struggle readjusting to your real schedule.

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Secure a Working Location

While working in bed or on the couch in front of the TV may be tempting, it's most certainly not recommended. Find yourself a quiet yet comfortable spot in the house that will allow you to work efficiently and keep the comfortable spots for your hours off.

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Meal Prep

Take the time to prepare your meals, as you would regularly. Remember, lunch breaks are still a thing. You should avoid bad snacking habits and focus on keeping your brain fully fuelled for a good day’s work.

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Communication‍

Working from home may seem lonely right now, but when you think about it, everyone is in the same boat. Pick up the phone, set up a video conference and stay up to date with your colleagues. If anything, now they definitely have the time to converse with you so make sure to keep up the verbal communication that exists when working face-to-face.

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Allow For Break Time‍

Frequent breaks are acceptable and are essential in avoiding burnout. Don’t forget to take that coffee break, and even find some time to socialize during the day. Of course, don’t go overboard but taking your mind off of your given tasks every now and then will allow you to keep moving forward throughout this hectic time.

With all this in mind, the most important thing to do is stay focused on the work at hand. Of course, the news can be distracting at times like these but we cannot lose sight of our professional responsibilities. Staying productive and moving forward with your business endeavors will make everything easier when this global virus settles down and we are able to return to our normal routines.

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