Meet Saunders Staley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Saunders Staley.

Saunders, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I always have had a love for film, photography and how you can bring out emotions in people with what you create. I studied at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA, specializing in underwater photography at the time. Working for numerous corporations and agencies out of school and shooting film/photography as a side hustle, it was really what I had a passion for and wanted to do full time.

After preparing to go out in the world on my own, on August 1, 2016, Flying Robot was born. I left my corporate job and went all in starting to build, market and trademark one of the leading aerial outfits in Arizona today. As with any entrepreneurial endeavor, I was flying by the seat of my pants, had one DJI Phantom 3 Pro, but had a very strong film/photography, marketing, design and business background to help me through the stages of business development.

With the drone industry in its early stages, I was trying to build the best portfolio I could, brand and market Flying Robot appropriately, to position my company for future growth and retention. I would fly for exposure bucks (video/photography credit) to build my portfolio, not ever solely for “Free” because I didn’t want to undervalue my services until I started to pick up a clientele who loved my work.

Now Flying Robot works with a diverse array of clientele locally, nationally and internationally. Some of these clients include the NFL, Google, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Caesars Entertainment Group, Westgate Entertainment District, LEXUS, Spotify, Sony Entertainment and AXON.

Over 6 years in business, we have turned our mistakes into success stories, run a fleet of 11 Heavy Lift, DJI, and FPV drones, have two rotating contract employees, focus on cinematography/photography services and plan on scaling up year over year.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Starting any business is going to have its hurdles and comes with stress/anxiety on the daily. Even with the skills I obtained from my schooling, sales, marketing, agency and corporate career, building s  like this from the ground up in a new industry is not for the fainted heart.

I threw darts at a board the first year or two, Flying Robot did it all, HAHA! Construction Monitoring, Real Estate, Mapping, Events, Dronebase one offs barely affording the gas in my vehicle, if it could be done with a drone I pursued it. Then I thought, what am I doing? Concentrate on what you are passionate about and really good at, cinematography and photography. At that point in 2018, I pulled all the other services down off of the Flying Robot services page and concentrated on those two aspects of the business.

Another constant battle is keeping up with technology and the production industry as a whole. We don’t have big production house budgets, so our margins are super thin and we have to strategically purchase equipment that makes sense for Flying Robot, not just because it is the latest and greatest. We purchase equipment that we know we will use frequently and then rent other gear we don’t.

90% of this is running a business, the other 10% is the creative part. I know a lot of people interested in the industry think if you purchase a drone unit, build a website and acquire your FAA Part 107 you will be off to the races, this is absolutely not the case. It is hard work, you need business, marketing and networking skills and the work never stops. I also recommended before even diving into this space, asking yourself what makes you different, why would people hire you above others, what skills do you bring to the table, and what part of the industry will be your focus.

Scaling Flying Robot to a long list of clients we have today, has been super hard work but wouldn’t give it up for any other career move. I basically work 80 hrs a week, not to work 40, love what I do, always needing to fly for myself more, and have some of the coolest clients on the planet.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We provide aerial support for clients worldwide using heavy lift, fpv (sub 250g as well to legally fly over people), and DJI drone units. Occasionally we use ground gimbals for ground work but specialize in aerial cinematography/photography.

We fly commercially and train on our drone units daily and are always perfecting our craft, upgrading technology and bringing the highest quality commercial aerial work to the market possible. I also was a consultant with the U.S. Department of Transportation on the beginning stages of their FAA Drone Zone build out/program, so am well adverse to airspace approvals across the board. My point is that we are not an agency/production house with 1 or 2 drone units and fly occasionally.

Flying Robot is specifically an aerial support provider, this is what we do, we fly daily, we know the obstacles to make smoother flights happen on site and have the cinematic/photography skills to capture what you need. I’m super proud to be in the position I am today, building my company from one drone and one client, to an 11-drone unit fleet, two contract employees and a long list of high-profile clients.

All work and social media channels can be found at www.FlyingRobot.io.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
FPV, FPV, FPV (First Person View). I can’t stress this enough. These drones fly faster, more dynamic, some can legally fly over people and are super technical to fly above your standard DJI or Autel drone units. FPV definitely isn’t the sole brunt of our aerial support lineup but a good deal of our business comes from this type of work. Diversifying your drone fleet is ideal for success.

We also are going to see RID (Remote Identification) placed into law by the FAA in 2023. Remote ID is the ability of a drone in flight to provide identification and location information that can be received by other parties. This is going to pave the way for drone delivery, safety and other applications in our industry. Will this be a hurdle and good for drone professionals, only time will tell.

I think autonomous flights are going to progress over the next 5-10yrs as well. There are already so many options to automate flight patterns and shots with your drone, it is just going to make creating easier and more precise. However, Flying Robot as a whole will always be flying manually unless a shot calls for autonomy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.FlyingRobot.io
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraerials/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRaerials/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FRaerials
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zs8Nj0maA6DRMURvU4wGw
• Other: https://vero.co/flyingrobot

Image Credits
Flying Robot