Flying High: The Journey of FlyRoute | Collin Caffrey

PROFITABLE TALKS...

In this episode of the Profitable Creative, host Christian Brim interviews Colin Caffrey, founder of FlyRoute, a drone film service provider specializing in high school football. Colin shares his journey from a career in private aviation to entrepreneurship, discussing the challenges and successes he faced while building his business. He emphasizes the importance of pricing strategies, market research, and the implementation of the Profit First system to ensure financial health. Colin also introduces the service partner model for expansion and reflects on the significance of branding and naming his company.

PROFITABLE TAKEAWAYS...

• FlyRoute specializes in drone film for athletic programs.
• Colin transitioned from private aviation to entrepreneurship.
• Pricing strategies are crucial for business sustainability.
• Market research helps in setting competitive prices.
• Growth can be rapid but requires foundational support.
• Profit First helps manage finances effectively.
• The service partner model allows for expansion without franchising.
• Branding is essential for business identity.
• Colin emphasizes the importance of leadership in business.
• Continuous learning and adaptation are key to success.

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Transcript

Welcome to another episode of the Profitable Creative, the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host, Christian Brim. Joining me today is Colin Caffrey of FlyRoute. Colin, how are you, sir?

Collin (00:23.17)
Yeah, hey everyone. Thanks for having me, Christian. Really looking forward to it. Doing well today. Can't complain. Better than I deserve, I suppose.

Christian Brim (00:31.15)
I say that all the time and people look at me funny, but I said it long before Dave Ramsey did so I'm gonna take credit for it So Colin tell us a little bit about fly route, what do you guys do?

Collin (00:40.013)
He does do that, it's funny.

Collin (00:45.228)
Yeah, so we are a drone film service provider and our core offering is drone film for athletic programs. So we serve primarily high school football is kind of our core demographic. But yeah, it's really that that technology for coaching purposes that helps teams to win more and just get that really that perspective that they can't get anywhere else. So kind of a unique

business endeavor when I got into it seven years ago and it's just been a really fun ride ever since.

Christian Brim (01:18.946)
Now, is that one of the things that, that like technology filtered down? they, do they use drones for, you know, college or professional athletics?

Collin (01:30.904)
Yeah, good question. You know, at the college level, there's really not a whole lot of drone usage only because of the regulations at this current state of the game. for example, NCAA Division I, the FAA regulations don't allow you to use drone technology over the field. And that's really just from a safety perspective. Sometimes Division III, you can get away with it in certain parts of the country.

Christian Brim (01:40.334)
Okay.

Christian Brim (01:49.111)
you

Collin (02:00.054)
Really, if they are using drone technology at the college level, it's going to be more at the practice levels where you don't have a full stadium surrounding you and you're able to use that vantage point to help you for critiquing practices. yeah, you know, with these college level games, they've got pretty big infrastructure around them. So maybe the cable cam might be more of a better way to go. But that's really what the drone does for you is it's that

Christian Brim (02:07.213)
Right.

Collin (02:30.24)
overhead cable cam like view at a fraction of the cost.

Christian Brim (02:34.296)
So how high does the drone fly over a football game?

Collin (02:39.076)
We are anywhere from about 70 to a hundred feet. So, you know, it's below the stadium lights. you know, looking back seven years ago, when we started doing this, the drone technology wasn't quite as advanced as it is now where you didn't have zooming capabilities. So we used to have to fly about 30 feet above the playing action. It was a much louder drone. It was kind of more of a nuisance and, but anymore now.

Christian Brim (03:06.828)
Like a big mosquito.

Collin (03:08.194)
You can't even see it. I mean, yeah, it's up in the air. You can't hear it with the crowd noise. And it's pretty blended into the night sky during those evening games.

Christian Brim (03:19.086)
So when you started this, said seven years ago, what was your inspiration? How did you decide to get into this?

Collin (03:29.624)
Yeah, you know, was really just, was at a point in my life where, you know, professional career, kind of felt a little bit disgruntled with. my background is in private aviation. So I was, I have a really big passion for aviation and just grew up loving everything about it. At one point wanted to pursue the pilot track, but just kind of decided that, you know, sitting having a

a really unpredictable schedule and sitting in an airplane cockpit for hours at a time wasn't going to be a great fit for me. So I really loved business. And I felt like I was always kind of the youngest one at a lot of the companies that I had worked for. And I felt like creativity was just kind of being stifled. I had a lot of passion and desire to kind of work up and promote certain ideas and unique perspectives.

I just kind of felt like I was getting squashed left and right. for me, I looked at business ownership. I've always had a little bit of a bone towards entrepreneurship. My first business quote unquote in high school was mowing lawns. I'm sure a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that one. It's a good entry into the industry.

Christian Brim (04:45.003)
Yes.

That's why I still don't mow my lawn to this day is because I cut enough grass in high school.

Collin (04:54.326)
Yeah, no, it's a good way to support the younger generation. yeah, there's a lot of skills you learn when you're doing that. yeah, I always had that in the back of my mind that was like, I guess I love that feeling of my blood, sweat and equity and my investment into something I could see it nurture and grow and it can turn into something bigger than myself. So always liked that idea in

2017 when I was working for a private aviation company there was a opportunity where the FAA which regulates all the airspace in the US they came out with the drone pilots license and saw that as an opportunity to just get my license it's called the part 107 and see where it would go at the time I had a background in search and rescue so I had

Initially wanted to steer a company in the realm of helping others and use my search and rescue background. And I quickly came to find that there's a lot of volunteer based, it's a lot of consulting type of work. It was difficult to build a business that's predictable off of that. So just kind of tried my hand at everything and did some weddings, did some building inspections, marketing, really just kind of said yes to it all.

Christian Brim (06:04.739)
Right.

Collin (06:18.518)
until a family friend invited me out to do a practice for a local high school football program here in Denver, which is where we're based out of. And yeah, really just, you know, from there on, there was such a value add for the coaches. I could really understand that, you know, this is a point in time where we can build something predictable off of this when I was just doing it myself. And, and then, you know, the just from, from

Christian Brim (06:24.696)
Mm -hmm.

Collin (06:47.236)
spreading the film around to other teams, other coaches were seeing this and were like, this is a perspective unlike anything else we've gotten. We'd really love to get this drone film on board. So it really grew organically through word of mouth. And yeah, that was really the impetus was just kind of wanting to get into the entrepreneurial world in some way. that was 2017. yeah, things have changed quite a bit since then, but grateful for the journey.

Christian Brim (07:16.686)
So to clarify, you weren't a pilot before you got your 107.

Collin (07:23.022)
I was not, no, no, so I was just working operations and sales for private jet charter is what I was doing at the time, correct.

Christian Brim (07:24.631)
Okay.

Christian Brim (07:29.258)
Okay. Okay. so when you, when you went to the practice, and, saw the coaches light up, you were like, okay, I'm onto something here. was that kind of a light bulb moment? Like I could do this and scale it.

Collin (07:48.354)
Yeah, it really was just because, you know, they always wanted to provide something that was of meaning and value in some way. You know, I think I was a little bit fed up with, know, in the private jet charter world, I was great. I loved it. I got to work with some amazing people and meet some amazing people who were, you know, flying privately and they were the one percenters of the world that were, you know, very successful in their own right. But it was very

Christian Brim (08:15.811)
Right?

Collin (08:17.58)
I guess, little bit disheartening was, was trying to make these cold calls on the phone nonstop and trying to, you know, pitch somebody on a service that they may or may not need. And it was just a luxury type of product. There wasn't a whole lot of inherent, like, you know, the way I justified it in my mind was that, okay, I'm giving someone back their time. If they're able to afford flying privately, then that's a, you know, there's meaning in that, but.

Yeah, I really wanted to have a product and an offering that provided meaning. And the second I saw, you know, the coaches and the athletes and the way that all of the coaches were able to do their jobs more effectively because of what I was giving them, that just really, you know, brought a smile to my face and made me feel really good. And it also helped athletes to be able to get recruited at higher levels and play, you know, at universities and because they had that better

coaching and they have better recruiting tape as well.

Christian Brim (09:19.95)
So to clarify and just so you listeners heard that, make sure you heard it. It wasn't like you went out there and got a drone's license and said, okay, I'm going to go film high school football. It was, you tried a bunch of different things and you just landed on something that fit.

Collin (09:42.126)
Correct. Yeah. And that's definitely a, you know, anything that I would advise someone that's starting a business to be open to is really that pivoting. You know, you hear a lot of people that talked about having to pivot during COVID. And if you want to survive and thrive, you know, one day, I think there, have to be open to new ways of looking at things and new market, new opportunities. I think there, it's a, it's a delicate balance, right? Because there is a,

I myself, I'm a big dreamer and a visionary. So there's a lot of shiny objects floating around out there. And I always think like, ooh, if I start this business endeavor, that'll take off and that'll supplement what we're already doing. so you kind of want to ride the line somewhere in the middle where, you know, if you see the writing on the wall of, this isn't going to work, don't be afraid to pivot. But if you do find something that works and you've got a really great product market fit, I would just go all in on it and stay.

dead focused and at that point in time, maybe pivoting and doing other things is not in your best interest.

Christian Brim (10:48.268)
Yeah. And I think, I think what I hear from you also is that you're, you're not a drone pilot first. You're, you're a business owner first. And that, that distinction sometimes gets, gets lost on people because they get lost. They get trapped in the skillset that they have, whatever, whatever their skill is. and I don't know how many drone pilots there are in the United States, but a lot, but

Nobody else doing what you're doing.

Collin (11:21.218)
Yeah, I think, you know, what helped me in the early days and even now I still do this is always reading as many books as I can get my hands on about business ownership and listening to podcasts and really just trying to immerse myself in the environment of being a business owner. And you come to learn pretty quick that it doesn't matter what market you're in. It's like at the end of the day, you're all the same in terms of

you know, how to, how to make a business thrive. And to me, I thought one book that really influenced me in the early days was John Maxwell's book in leadership, the seven, not seven habits of highly effective people, but the, I got it behind me here, the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. So that's one that really stuck out to me. was like, well, I can't help people help themselves unless I'm an effective leader.

and I can't grow a business beyond what I can do as a person unless I am able to bring someone on underneath me and build them up in their own skill sets. that to me really opened up the door was like, okay, I need to be a better leader if I want to do more and be more in the business.

Christian Brim (12:40.172)
Yes, absolutely. So when you started the high school football, how did you approach your pricing? What was your thought process on how you came up with your initial offering versus how you do it now?

Collin (12:59.48)
Yeah, that's an interesting one. I hadn't thought about that for a couple of years now, now that we've kind of like settled into a good little niche. So it's interesting to think back to what those early days were like. Cause that was a bit of an intimidating factor of like, gosh, I don't want to ask too much and then freak freak someone out and, you know, they're going to run for the Hills. And then I didn't want to, I didn't want to have set my pricing too low to where I can't support the

the health of the business and then we're out of business in a couple of years. What good is that? So there's definitely a sweet spot in there. And I would say, you know, from anyone starting in business is to do as much market research as you can, go out in the industry, ask other people who are doing similar types of work and really get a feel for, you know, what's acceptable, what's not. For what we do in the drone film service, it's a bit more of

a white glove approach where we've got a dedicated pilot that's assigned specifically to the team and they follow for home and away games. lot of FAA regulations that we have to make sure we have airspace compliance. So I knew from the get -go that what we did was going to be more of a, I guess, more of a kind of luxury and a higher end price point versus like a traditional press box, like videographer type service.

Christian Brim (14:26.637)
Right?

Collin (14:27.33)
So I knew that, I asked around to a couple different videographers in the area. said, hey, what are you guys charging for game? And not to be deceitful, but I was saying, like, hey, these teams might wanna hire you. If they do, what could I tell them if they're interested in your service? So it's not like, I was trying to take over their business, but yeah, it's good to have a pulse on that thing.

on those things. So once I got that price point figured out of where I could kind of fall in, I would say there's probably three or four different revisions of pricing structure. think initially when I started out, it was way too low. And I realized, my gosh, I can't cover the cost of equipment year two or year three. And I had to go back to my customers and say, hey, you know, because of the price of equipment, we really have to, you know,

Christian Brim (15:14.082)
Right.

Collin (15:23.288)
boost our pricing to support the business and afford what we're doing. And they understood. I think at that point in time, I was so early on, I think the most important thing for me and anyone else that maybe is getting started is just to, even if your price point is a little too low to start with, provide that value, show your worth to your customer. And then once you do that, if you go back to them, you know, asking for more money and it's justified.

they're gonna have no problems paying a little extra once you've proven your worth, once you've started.

Christian Brim (15:54.382)
Right. Cause you're indispensable to your part of their process. Now you're part of the team and, yeah. So what would you say compared to, ground photographers or, or booth photographers, videographers, what was your, was your price point 20 % higher, 50 % higher? What w when you started

Collin (16:19.342)
Sure, Joe, when I started, I initially had, I paired up my pricing to be about the same as a press box videographer. And then once teams were seeing our film and they were just scrapping that video perspective altogether, I was like, huh, well, this really isn't gonna be sustainable if I stay at this price point. And now fast forward to today, we're about nearly double the cost of what it would.

Christian Brim (16:28.588)
Okay.

Christian Brim (16:43.009)
Right.

Collin (16:49.486)
what it would take to hire a press box videographer. And that's not to say, you know, that we are just raking in cash left and right. I mean, we're still, you know, operating at a fine margin and we have to be responsible with what we're doing as far as our spend goes. But it's definitely, I can take a big sigh of relief, you know, knowing where we're at financially now versus, gosh, go back four years ago. It was a little scary at times.

Christian Brim (17:17.602)
Yeah, and I'm going to emphasize again for the listeners, they doubled their prices within the first four years. And I think everybody tends to lowball their service when they're starting out because they're unsure, especially when you're going into something that's novel, that's not being done. You don't have anything to compare it to. You had something to compare it to, but it wasn't really apples to apples, right?

And so I think even, even if you are just doing what everybody else is doing, I think you starting out want to, you know, pay the bills, get, get the business. And so we do tend to, lowball our prices, but to your point, Colin, if you provide something that is a value, you can charge for it. And, and that's.

That's the difference is figuring out what that value is that you can provide that distinguishes you from others and deliver on it. And then your customers will pay for

Collin (18:27.82)
No, it's a great point because I think adding on to that too is that, you know, two things in the early days, I think were pitfalls of mine. And I see happening a lot talking to other business owners as well as that. If you get rejected at a certain price point, you feel maybe a kind of inner need to have to to lower, you your your offering or what you're asking. But just know, I think starting out that maybe what you're offering is such a niche.

type of product or it is at such a premium price for a reason, right? So it's okay that it's not for everybody.

Christian Brim (19:07.958)
Yeah, cause you're not, you're not filming all the high school football teams. You're you're so, so let's, let's dig into that for a second. So in, in Colorado, in Denver, where you've been there longest, what percentage of the high school football team are your customers of the total market? Would you guess?

Collin (19:29.038)
So for today, well, there's five different levels, right, for high school football. The highest level here in Colorado is 5A, and then it goes down 4A, 3A, all the way to 1A. So that kind of gives you a sense of, and that's based on enrollment numbers. So at the highest level of football, they're gonna have a lot more resources and funding and booster club support. So for that level in the Denver Metro area,

Christian Brim (19:41.549)
Right.

Christian Brim (19:46.263)
Right?

Collin (19:57.572)
I would say I haven't run the numbers this year, but we've got to be pushing right around the 85 to 90 % of teams at that level. And then 4A stepping down a notch is probably right around the 70 -ish percentage mark. 3A is probably about 10 % lower. So, you know, it's not a hundred percent, but it's definitely enough to build a business off of, and it's just a numbers game.

Christian Brim (20:23.714)
Well, so you guys grew real quickly then. I mean, if you got that percentage of market share, you grew quickly.

Collin (20:32.676)
Yeah, it was really about like 30 % growth every year. and some years much bigger early on. that growth curve is something that's, yeah, it was a blessing, but also a major challenge of like, okay, we got to step up to the plate. How are we going to meet this? We've got training processes, hiring, equipment, procurement, and getting it ready and scheduling.

So it was a big, lots of puzzle pieces to put together. I think I realized early on another book I'd recommend to the audience if they haven't read. So Rocket Fuel by Geno Wickman talks a lot about having two sides of the coin for business ownership, which is a visionary and then an integrator. for me, I'm more of the visionary type where

Christian Brim (21:13.503)
yes, good one.

Christian Brim (21:23.437)
Right?

Collin (21:26.766)
You know, I could go out and get the business and kind of think high level about things, but I'm not a, you know, very strategic, like in the trenches, operational, like do everything to a T type of person. So I knew about two years in, I need to bring a partner on who is that operational person. So at that point I brought on my partner, Michael, who's a VP of operations.

And he is that person. you know, we, we balance each other out really well in a lot of ways. He reigns me in from trying to go catch shiny objects, you know, floating around in the sky. And, and then I just help, you know, to, to be that customer facing interface. So that's something I highly recommend is, is having those two sides of the coin.

Christian Brim (22:03.116)
Yes.

Christian Brim (22:16.494)
So you, you, it would be safe to say that you were not, when you, when you started and started gaining success, you weren't prepared for that, that level of growth. Like you had a lot of things that you had to lay down foundationally to support that growth.

Collin (22:34.552)
Yeah, and lots of, you know, making mistakes along the way. That's definitely part of the process. So I think that that wasn't prepared for it right away. But when it came, you know, it was, it was either a, Hey, are we going to turn this down because we're, scared of it. And we think that it's going to be too much for us to handle, or are we going to, you know, figure out a way, a creative way to, to solve this issue and, and step up and deliver. So.

Yeah, know, I think back to so 2018, 2019 at that point in time, I had, let's see, there was three teams that I was serving in year one and two. And then there was a district agreement where I sat down in a boardroom with 10 different teams and the district athletic director. And I just told myself, you know, if I can land this deal, this is now going to make this a viable business.

And at the time it was just a side hustle for me while I was working at the airport. So I remember just taking a picture of that room and I was like, I'm going to remember if this deal happens, I'm going to remember this moment for, you know, forever because it's just one of those pivotal things. So, and yeah, so I sat down, pitched the coaches about the drone film service that we offer. They had already seen the film because when, when a home

Christian Brim (24:00.066)
Right?

Collin (24:02.222)
team goes to a hosting school and we get authorization to fly our drone for the away customer, we will send the drone film to the homeschool at no cost. that was a really great marketing opportunity for us. They had seen the film. So it wasn't a whole lot of like, hey, I need to pull your arm and leg to buy this service. Cause they already know what the value add was, but it was more of a, Hey, you know, I'm, I'm wanting to talk to you a little bit more about how like,

If you were to pay all this lump sum of money, this is why you can trust us to follow through with what we say we're going to do. So it was more of a, I just, I trust meeting more than anything. and once that deal landed, it was like, my gosh, we got a higher 10 pilots and train them and get all the equipment at that point. You know, the most we'd done was three. So it was just like jumping into the deep end that year. but so grateful for it.

Christian Brim (24:45.358)
So you got, you.

Christian Brim (24:58.318)
So you got paid upfront for the season for all the schools?

Collin (25:06.114)
The way we structure it, just because reading, the way we got connected was through the profit first world. So kind of highlighting some of that, the cashflow side of things really needed to connect in a way to where I didn't want to have to be beholden to banks and lenders. And I didn't want to have to go down this route of worrying about paying my bills. So.

Christian Brim (25:26.627)
Right.

Collin (25:34.596)
we had set up the business in a way to where we could invoice enough upfront to cover the cost of our equipment. And then fortunately, a lot of the schools were okay with paying the labor upfront as a deposit as well, because they didn't want to process bi -weekly invoices for 10 game regular season. It helped them a lot. So that was huge, being able to just say, hey, here's the amount. And then they agreed to it. And then at that point,

Christian Brim (25:50.498)
Right.

Collin (26:03.642)
the customers were kind of our bank at that point.

Christian Brim (26:05.952)
Yeah, the customer funded business is a great book I recommend and it talks about various companies in different industries that have basically had their customers fund their growth and in your situation that's exactly what you did. You had them pay you first and then okay I'm gonna go find these these pilots and buy the equipment and and get it done. So

What is your experience with Profit First? Has it made a difference in your business?

Collin (26:37.954)
It really has. yeah. Gosh, just, you know, not having a background in accounting or business ownership or really understanding bookkeeping at all. In the first two years of running the business, I ran everything on a just a spreadsheet, which was like a very, like if you can imagine just like the ugliest spreadsheet that was like not up to date with the weirdest numbers and notes and it was hideous. It was so bad.

Christian Brim (26:53.933)
Yes.

Collin (27:04.9)
I think when Michael came into the business, he was like, yikes, what am I getting myself into? But he helped, know, we got QuickBooks online shortly after. But I think, yeah, Profit First, you know, what it really instilled in me early on. And I'm so grateful and blessed that I was able to read that book in my journey when I did, because had I not, I think I would have ended up in a position to where, you know, constantly overspending.

I'm really not managing what's, what's being put aside for tax saving purposes for, for just, you know, profit saving. and really not even knowing what to pay myself at the end of the day. and then the result of not managing all of that is that you as the owner, me as the owner would, would take the hit, right? It'd be like, well, I can't make payroll this month because I didn't manage my spending properly. So.

Christian Brim (27:47.617)
Right.

Christian Brim (27:57.985)
Right. Right.

Collin (28:03.458)
Having those different buckets, you know, when money comes into the income account and just separating it out into operation expense, owner pay, I mean, in a glance, I can just quickly look in and see exactly what's going on as far as the health of the business, which has been huge.

Christian Brim (28:20.406)
It makes a huge difference because, you know, I keep telling people like, you don't have to, I mean, you, certainly can. And I would probably say you probably should learn how to read, you know, your financial statements, balance sheets and income statements, but you don't need all of that to know whether your business is profitable if you're running profit first, because it's, it's there in the bank and you don't have to wonder.

So in that regard, it's uber easy. So you've, I'm going to pivot a little bit here. You are now working on a service partner arrangement. Tell me about that. you've grown, you've saturated Denver. You started this service partner model. Tell us about that.

Collin (29:17.964)
Yeah, it's been an exciting opportunity over the last couple of years of launching this program. So it's like a franchise in the sense that we have kind of like a franchise or franchisee type of model, but it's an equity partnership model. basically what it allows an investor, an entrepreneur who wants to join the FlyRoute brand and start their own location, they can

buy in for the minority ownership of their own flyer out location. And then we really provide, we're not just a overseeing like franchise or that comes and cracks the whips about how you're doing things, but we are a partner. So we're in the trenches and really invested into seeing the enterprise value of each of these flyer out locations really thrive.

For me, I look at it very personally because I remember what it was like in the early years to not have any support whatsoever and just go out of business endeavor. And I don't know whether or not I'm doing things right or wrong or what the common pitfalls are. so for me, it's really a, I find a of, a lot of pride in doing this because I can help other entrepreneurs get to a place where they want to be as far as their

Christian Brim (30:25.816)
right.

Collin (30:46.68)
lifestyle and freedoms and build something bigger than themselves. So yeah, the service partner program is really just kind of a business in a box where we'll partner with you. And we're really looking to build that mutual trust relationship. We're in it day in and day out together. And I guess the one caveat that I can say about the partnership is that not all

States allow for in -game drone usage. So we're looking at very selected like areas of the country to grow. Last year we launched our Nashville location and it's done really great. Kudos, shout out to Chris, if you're listening. So not Christian, but Chris, yeah, our partner in Nashville. He's been just crushing it out there. So looking to areas like Florida and Alabama, anywhere in the Midwest.

Unfortunately, Texas and California don't allow in -game drone usage, yeah, just great opportunity to partner with someone who's highly motivated, maybe has a sales or operations background and wants to start a business of their own.

Christian Brim (31:59.276)
They don't need to be a drone pilot.

Collin (32:02.094)
Don't need to be a drone pilot. Nope. Nope. Surprisingly, that's kind of the easier thing, I suppose, to kind of learn along the way what becomes more difficult that you can't teach is, you know, maybe some, I mean, you can teach it, but it takes longer is the sales and operations side and some, you know, business ownership mindsets of really, really getting into the trenches, getting your hands dirty and wanting to be very

detailed oriented about seeing things go smoothly and right. But yeah, yeah, we help. So for example, like Chris, he came to us in Nashville with a heavy sales background and we were able to help him through the operational processes. He didn't have any drone piloting experience. So we'd gotten, worked with him to get his drone pilot's license. He got that and.

We did some training with the equipment and we have a 90 day program that we run all of our new service partners through really just to give them all the tools that they're going to need from, you know, here's the, marketing strategy for going to coaching conferences. And, here's the, the, the, process that you go through for contacting teams and, and having them fill out forms to sign up for the service. and then, you know,

what's the best equipment to use? What's gonna be the most safe, the highest quality, and how are they going to deliver on this promise after you've made the sale and really execute a high level drone film service? So, very excited to continue that program. And yeah, if anyone's listening that's interested in that, you can go to flyroute .com and the contact page. There's a little entrepreneur dropdown that you can click on to

to learn more about that.

Christian Brim (33:57.304)
So did you, were you inspired by some other business that used this service partner model that you kind of copied it off of, or where did you come up with that idea?

Collin (34:11.31)
Well, I think the initial thing that most service businesses or even product businesses maybe go the direction of is that are more of a demographically based business that you need boots on the ground to manage. They go the franchise route. So I did a deep dive into that and at certain points I was maybe even looking into potentially investing into different franchises.

Christian Brim (34:29.75)
Right?

Collin (34:40.642)
The big drawback I kind of saw with that was that there is, I guess, a little bit of a restriction that the franchisors can place on franchisees that limit what they can do with the business. For us, even though we're doing very well in high school football in a different part of the country, someone could be doing a lot better in lacrosse or they could do a lot more with like university instead of high schools or

So we didn't want to limit what a partner could and could not do as far as their opportunities go. So if they need to pivot operationally into something a little different, it still needs to be sports related, but if they want to do something else, we can help that. yeah, to answer your question, you know, I'd heard about this model. My brother -in -law, Alex, is in a service partner or equity partnership model.

And I really liked what it had to offer because he could invest a lot less of his money than he would have to otherwise because the partner was supporting financially and also with resources. And as long as you have the right person that has the right drive, then you can see kind of a mutual success relationship start to happen.

So I really liked that. You could get a lot of younger, eager guys who really want to make something that don't have a lot of capital that could get into this. Whereas franchises, I mean, you've got to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to typically drop into that, which ours is our price point is $29 ,000 for the initial investment.

Christian Brim (36:12.323)
Right.

Christian Brim (36:24.974)
which is very low, honestly. Even for a service franchise, mean, you know, go open a service pro or Janet King or any of those things, you're gonna still, you're gonna put out a lot more than 29 ,000. All right, my last question, how did you come up with the name?

Collin (36:44.46)
Yeah, that's a good one. So, the name fly route is, for those who are unfamiliar with football. So there's a, there's a route treat the offensive line has. so for wide receivers, depending on what direction you're going to run, they call it something different. So a, a fly route or referred to as a go route is where a wide receiver runs straight towards the end zone. you know, typically if,

If they pass there, he's going all the way for a touchdown. So fly route was, you know, it initially, when I named the company, it was called Angel Hawk because we were, we were gearing towards search and rescue and wanted to appeal to that audience. But it was about five years in, I was like, this is not appealing to sports. Angel Hawk does not speak to coaches. So really having that. then underneath the logo, says drones for athletics. So you could look at it real quickly and just be like,

Christian Brim (37:24.759)
Yeah.

Collin (37:42.24)
Even if I don't know what fly route is, it has fly in it. It's probably aviation, drones for athletics. Okay. You don't have to ask any questions about what it is.

Christian Brim (37:51.762)
I think it's brilliant. I think it's brilliant. Did you, I'm assuming that you did all of your intellectual property work and have it copyrighted and trademarked and...

Collin (38:05.718)
Yeah, we've got that. That is out there and in pending. So it's a long process for it to get approved. yeah, that's definitely something worth looking into early on in the business. And luckily, we got the domain name that was just up there. It was available flyerout .com. that was the tricky part was like even more than just copywriting it. I want to make sure you can get the domain name so you can tell people easily where to find you.

Christian Brim (38:31.789)
Right.

Collin (38:34.616)
We got lucky on that one.

Christian Brim (38:34.702)
So you didn't have to buy it from a squatter. It was available.

Collin (38:38.884)
It was for sale through a brokerage. I think for this one, yeah, we ended up going, I think it was like $1 I want to say, which is more expensive than some. I mean, you can get into some of them for like $7. But for that price point, for the exact name of what we're going to call ourselves, I was like, wow, we got lucky. Yeah, I'll take it.

Christian Brim (38:53.056)
Right.

Christian Brim (38:58.69)
Yeah, that's a deal. That's a deal. Well, Colin, I really appreciate your time. You're sharing your insights and experience listeners. If you will rate the show, subscribe, follow if you like what you're hearing. If you don't like what you heard, email Colin. No, send us a message and let us know what you would like to hear and please share the podcast with others in creative industries.

Until later, ta ta for now.