Today we’d like to introduce you to Julio Aguilar.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
So, I am originally from the Dominican Republic and was born to a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father. I grew up in Miami and as a young child, I had a fascination for wildlife and aviation. We didn’t have much money growing up, so we took a lot of trips to the public library in downtown Miami. The majority of the books that I checked out were wildlife and aviation books. My mother remarried and my stepfather was an aviation mechanic at Miami International Airport. We would go out to the open fields in South Miami where we’d meet up with an aviation group comprised mostly of veterans and fly rc planes and other homemade aircraft. As I began high school, my interest shifted to sports, and it wasn’t until the age of 19 that it shifted back to wildlife and aviation. I began working for a wildlife rescue and alligator farm down in Homestead, Florida where I specialized in working with crocodilians and venomous snakes. As part of my job, I also worked on production sets both on and off of the farm. On numerous occasions, a director would hand me a camera and ask if I’d be willing to get the close-ups on a dangerous animal. After a while, I decided to buy my own camera and film stock footage which I later would begin licensing to National Geographic, Animal Planet, and Discovery. I was able to get a lot of time in front of the cameras as well as behind them as a wrangler. From 2003-2006, our team was featured on “Miami Animal Police” where we’d rescue exotic wildlife down in Miami. I was also a high-risk cameraman and wildlife consultant for a production crew for a few years. This opportunity allowed me to travel the country and film different types of wildlife. As time went on, I did get married and decided to start a family. Unfortunately, the work of a wrangler and traveling high-risk camera man is not conducive to starting a family. After getting married, my wife and I moved to Boston for a job opportunity where we remained until 2017. At that point, we bought a house in Saint Cloud, and I was able to transfer with my current position and salary down to Kissimmee. One day while working a couple of young guys came and I noticed they had drone logos on their polo shirts. I struck up a conversation with them regarding drones since as a child I built and flew rc’s. They informed me that they flew for a contractor inspecting power poles. We touched briefly on the topic of salary, and I was immediately blown away. I remembered that my uncle offered me his Walmart drone a while back and called him to see if he still had it. Now it had been over a decade since I had flown an rc so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to pick up a drone and fly it as easily as a model airplane. To my surprise, I found it was easier. I started listening to drone podcasts and began to realize the opportunities the drone industry had. After practicing with the drone which included going up and down the stairs, building obstacle courses out of books, hampers, and whatever else I could find in my house (wife wasn’t happy about that), I decided to buy a smaller, faster Walmart drone to practice with. So, while all this is going on I also found out that in order to fly drones for commercial purposes, you are required by the FAA to be certified, so I began studying for the exam. After learning how to zip around the house with my new drone, I had to sit down and discuss my future prospects with my wife. After all, I had a great-paying job with great benefits, and I was the main source of income for my family. My wife took a massive risk and bought me a commercial drone (The Phantom 4 Advanced). At the time, the drone was listed for $1500 on “Best Buy’s” website, however, because of a mistake on their site I was able to order the drone at half the price. So, while waiting for the Phantom 4 to arrive, I took and passed the drone certification exam, making it legal for me to fly for income. I remember one of the first jobs I did was for a neighbor of mine who recently had solar panels put on his roof. He saw me flying the drone around and asked if it had a camera. Apparently while he was in his backyard a screwdriver rolled off of his roof and almost hit his granddaughter (the crew left tools on the roof). He asked if I’d be willing to fly over his roof and check for any other hazards that may have been left behind. He was extremely grateful and handed me cash after I landed although I refused it. After that I thought to myself… “wow, I am on to something.” I started cold-calling realtors and different businesses that I thought could benefit from aerial photography and videography. Unfortunately, at the time very few realtors were interested in aerials (the drone industry had not begun to take off on the east coast). I kept posting photos and videos of the freelance drone work I was doing as well as photos of my travels online and people started to notice. Eventually, we ended up having to move back to Boston for financial reasons, but I kept “droning” and also kept our house in Saint Cloud. When the pandemic hit, the drone industry began to explode especially with real estate. A potential buyer could step into and around a house virtually without leaving their living room. We took some time off from work which was slow at the time and spent a few months back down in Florida where I took up some freelancing work using my drone to do some freelance work including real estate, roof and land inspections. I was offered a partially remote position with an agricultural robotics company performing turf and crop inspections with US-manufactured robots. I am presently in that position now and balance my time between Boston and Orlando. Most of our customers are golf courses and farms. The agricultural drones we fly for our customers allow them to redirect natural resources like water, to areas of need on their properties. My story is one of a passion that turned into a full-time position. I do not have a degree in what I do, just a deep passion for a hobby that I was able to turn into a dream job. Aside from my full-time position as a Director of Flight Operations, I continue to freelance between Boston and Central Florida since my position can be performed remotely. There are tons of other details in between but this is the summarized version. You can find my work online and have probably seen a lot of my aerial work featured on tv shows, commercials, and independent movies.
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?
I have had a ton of struggles which included a lot of “no we aren’t interested in aerial photos and videos.” Financial struggles plagued me from the beginning as drones at the time were not cheap and neither was the maintenance. I also found that Florida was well behind in realizing the potential benefits that drones could offer. Since the west coast of the United States was the birthplace of drone opportunities, I had to wait a good amount of time before the potential was realized. When I started to receive phone calls back from customers that I had previously contacted, usually the conversation would begin with “so you reached out to us about aerials…about that…”
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My full-time position is for a robotics company based out of Boston as a Director of Flight operations also but operating in Florida, California, Massachusetts, Texas, Japan, Malaysia, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and the UK. I specialize in aerial photography, videography as well as aerial agricultural assessments. I also teach people to fly drones help them to pass their drone certification course. I am very active in the drone industry and am a natural-born problem solver. Most people don’t like to hear “you can’t do it.” I am the complete opposite. In the past when I’ve been told “you can’t do it,” I make it a point to “do it” and be one of the best at it. There was a lot of doubt initially from both family and friends who thought that me flying a drone was just an expensive hobby. A ton of eye rolls and doubt that at first was discouraging. Once I gathered my thoughts together and came up with a plan to succeed, there was no stopping me. I initially thought I’d have some challenges getting into the drone industry without a degree but what I found was that the industry was so new that experience was more valuable than a degree. My real-world experience became the key into the industry and that remains true. I encourage anyone who has a passion to follow it. Do what it is you love to do with no other purpose than to be good at it…really good at it. Just follow your passion and cast all of the “doubters” to the side. If they aren’t willing to believe in you and support you… use that to fuel your drive.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
So many to choose from. I’d say it was going to airshows at the Opa Locka airport every year. To see a human get into a machine and fly was amazing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drone_van_gogh/
- Facebook: https://hi-in.facebook.com/dronevangogh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/drone_van_gogh
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxDYFfpQkHqDmXJpmWilzA
