Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Vasquez.
Mark, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Fort Myers and grew up in a small town called LaBelle. We lived there until I was 12 and then we moved to Winter Haven to be closer to family and have more opportunity. I went to school, played sports, and then senior year rolled around and I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do after high school. After some thought, and talking to my family, I decided I wanted to become a firefighter as my older brother was already one and it seemed like a fun job for a young guy to have. After that I went to fire standards, EMT school and was hired by the city of Auburndale as a firefighter in 2020. It has been a great learning experience and is a great career. But I got into drones because one of my coworkers was already a professional drone pilot and he told me all about the technology and what they’re capable of doing. With my interest peaked, I bought my first drone and really just learned how to fly, take photos, and used it more as a hobby than anything else. Then at the start of 2022 I saw an opportunity to serve the market and decided to open my drone business, Altitude Aerial Media. I also got married in 2022 to my wonderful wife, Destiny and we just welcomed our first child into the world, on the 4th of July. Today, my company is a full drone service provider, offering video services tailored toward businesses, photogrammetry, LiDAR mapping, and our latest service offering is inspections.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I wouldn’t say that starting the business, (like starting any business) has been a smooth road in the sense of being an overnight success. When I started the business, I didn’t know very much about what it means to build a business. In the beginning especially, I didn’t have a mentor to guide me and help me navigate all the pitfalls of starting a business. In the early days, there was a lot of question of whether I should pursue x, y or z in the drone industry. You see so much content on social media about how others are making money in the drone industry and it can sort of cause some paralysis by analysis for someone who doesn’t have much experience in the industry. It is very easy to think “oh that person is making a killing doing x, maybe I should do that” when in reality (good advice in general) don’t take what you see in media and social media for gospel. Decide how you want to serve the client and where you want to position yourself in the market, and then go in that direction and don’t look back (in the sense of comparing yourself to others.) What I have found to be true is that it doesn’t matter what other drone businesses were doing. It mattered what I did. It was a lot of trial and error in the beginning, and I faced a lot of rejection (as anyone would.) All the difficulty or bumps in the road I would say are pretty standard and have helped me grow as a person. Now, with the help of my mentor and after learning a lot, I have clarity on how I want to serve the market and where I want to position my company in the market.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Altitude Aerial Media is a drone service provider based in Central Florida, and we offer a range of services. I’ll list them one by one and explain each one because some of the terms, everyone might not be familiar with.
We offer video services tailored to businesses and use high quality video and audio equipment to create professional commercials, and other video content. Some of my clients for this service have been, auto auctions, painting and pressure washing companies, and other blue collar businesses.
Another service offering we have is photogrammetry, sometimes called drone mapping. Photogrammetry is the science of taking many aerial photos of an area and stitching them together in what can be called a map. Then, all kinds of data can be extracted from that map depending upon the area which was flown. My customers for this specific service are mainly survey firms, and construction companies.
For a survey company, we are able to fly and capture terrain data for large areas, even several hundred acres in about an hour and a half, whereas traditional surveying would take several days to capture that same data and would be much more labor intensive and require a crew of several people. With drones we are able to capture that data, with survey grade, in a fraction of the time and deliver that data to the client. The data is captured faster, time saved, money is saved, and the process is much safer since the survey firm doesn’t have to send anyone into the field.
Another service that we provide for survey companies is LiDAR drone mapping, which stands for Light Detection And Range. Essentially, in heavily wooded or dense forest areas, it is impossible to capture the terrain data of the forest floor with standard RGB drone mapping (that would be a regular camera drone, takes normal photos like your iPhone). LiDAR mapping is used instead, because it sends its own laser beam essentially to the forest floor as it flies across the area and the laser beam bounces back to the drone and terrain data is captured that way. It is much faster and safer than surveying heavily wooded areas traditionally. Again, an area can be flown in a couple of hours that would normally take several days to survey traditionally.
For a construction company, we are able to fly a construction site and create a 3D model which is very beneficial to the construction company. It can be used to communicate to property owners and stakeholders about the progress of the site, some of whom it is not possible to step foot on site. The 3D model can be used to gather accurate measurements and volume calculations. It can also be used for progress monitoring, ensuring site compliance and quality assurance and inspection.
Our latest service offering is AI powered inspections, specifically for engineering firms to perform milestone inspections for multi story buildings on the coast. Florida Statute 553.899 requires that all buildings within three miles of the coast 25 years or older have a milestone inspection complete. This law is in response to the building collapse that took place in Surfside, FL that took the lives of 98 people in June of 2021. This inspection is to ensure the safety of the residents of the building and prevent other similar occurrences. Drones are the most effective and fastest way to inspect the exterior walls, roof, and other exterior components of a building to ensure structural integrity. Using AI inspection tools to provide data to the engineering firm will help save lives and allow milestone inspections to be completed quicker and more effectively.
What sets us apart from others is our customer service mindset. What that means, is not just “service with a smile,” per se, but asking the question “how can we better serve the client? How can we save them time, work and money?” This is how my business grew from a real estate photography business, to a drone service provider. Practically, this can mean putting down ground control points for a survey company so they don’t have to do it, or using AI powered tools for building inspections, to capture data that is otherwise very tedious and time consuming to gather. Every job, with every client, we always seek to serve the client better.
What I would like the readers to know about my brand is that we take a customer service mindset and apply it to all of our services. Whether it is video services, photogrammetry, or inspections we always ask ourselves “how can we serve you better?” We will take the time to figure out how to serve you and your business better by building a good working relationship and understanding your goals for your business.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’m not really sure how to answer a question like that because I’m not entirely sure how much I believe in the idea of “luck.” What are the odds that my family would move to Winter Haven in 2012, I would become a firefighter (which I never wanted to do as a kid, unlike my brother,) work at a small fire department that has another guy who runs a drone business (he’s from Europe by the way, what would be the odds of him landing in central Florida of all places,) the odds that drone technology would peak my interest (I was never into technology in school in that sense) and that I would start the business and develop some close allies and mentors along the way who would help me along? Is that luck? Or divine providence? I would lean more toward divine providence. God’s plan for my life, in other words. I’ve definitely worked at it and had my share of chipping away at the rock so to speak but ultimately, all the credit belongs to him. Who gave me the ability to be able to do this? Who orchestrated all these events in my life?
That said, I understand that statistically speaking, most businesses fail, most drone businesses fail, it’s very hard to be successful as an entrepreneur. Is it the case that the businesses that do make it are just very lucky? Eh. Unlikely, I think. You are certainly fighting the odds as an entrepreneur, but I don’t consider that the same thing as “luck” in the esoteric, immeasurable sense. You have to stack the odds in your favor to be successful by getting a lot of things right. Serve the client well, solve the problem for them, market your company well. Any one thing you do badly can certainly derail the business.
Long winded, I know, but I hope that answers the question.
Pricing:
- Pricing for drone mapping services starts at $400 with the first ten acres of land included.
- Pricing for video commercials starts at $1000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.altitudeaerialmedia.online/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altitudeaerialmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Altitude-Aerial-Media/61553162195661/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@markvasquez9483?si=h10kp8SMNLsLfdDG
