freelancers

J

jettison IT

New Member
Are there any cfi's out there that freelance i.e., one man show. Do you own your own airplane? How's your qol? Do you advertise, etc, etc. I just started freelancing and am using another freelancers airplane. I'v been at it for 2 weeks, Have 3 students and just put an ad in the local paper. Any advice to make it work for me. I'm not chasing an airline career.
 
I can't make a career out of it, but right now my QOL is incredible. I ski 3 times a week and get to enjoy every night home. In fact I get to enjoy most of my mornings home too. I currently have 4 students and my CFI/A&P friend has one as well. Past students fly my plane every once in a while. I get to exercise everyday and hangout at the airport. I have the most free time I have ever had in my life.

Believe me if I could keep this QOL I would never go to the airlines. Problem is some day I am going to want to buy a home, have kids etc. That won't happen with this deal. Also there is a ton of risk for not a whole lot of financial reward. All it takes is one person to make a smoking hole or even a prop strike. This would leave me without a plane and revenue for at least 3-4 months, not to mention the lawsuits. I can take that risk now, but not if I had a kids and family to worry about.

-Jason
 
Jason I know what you mean. just the thought of lawsuits makes me nervous.And I have access to one plane a c-150. Can I ask you what you charge for private pilot dual. I charge 30 hr. The local established flight school charges 43hr, so I think its a much better deal. we charge 54 hr. for the plane (wet).
 
I started charging 30/hr for my first few students. Every other school in the states charges at least 40/hr. I realized I was giving 10/hr away. I now charge 40.

You offer a better deal then the flight schools already. Do not be afraid to charge competitive prices. In the end this is the only way you will get by. Also you more than likely provide a different atmosphere than the local flight school. This is why students will come to you. Charging competitive prices I have finished my students for significantly less than the local flight schools. When compared to some of the big flight academies I have almost done it for half. I don't lecture my students about stuff they can read in a book. I tell them look I want you to read pages X to X, know the PTS standards and know these regs before next lesson. We sit down and go through everything we are going to do in the air and how we are going to do it, my standards of completion etc. Debrief, then what we are going to do next lesson, I want you to know this this and this. I generally only add .2 or .3 to the hobbs for my time.
 
I'm transitioning into doing independent instruction, no plans for an airline type job in the future. One of my students has access to an Alarus, and we're setting up a club using it with plans to add airplanes in the future, possibly something along the lines of a Grumman club with an AA1 and AA5. I also have a few students who started off at the FBO, got sick of poor maintenance and scheduling hassles, and bought their own airplane or bought into a partnership. I made my own business cards, and students have found me from NAFI, Flight Central and Gleim CFI listings to date. I don't have a website, but we'll do one for the club and include an online schedule.
I think some ways to be successful are to offer a good value (both cost and quality), better atmosphere, better schedule access, better/different aircraft, or something specialized like LSA training, transition training ie Cirrus/Columbia etc. Kind of a broad spectrum, but you can identify what's missing in your area and target it.
 
Thank you very much for the valuable info. I agree with you. Its been alittle slow for me, but Iv only been at it for a couple of weeks now. Just like starting your own business its gonna take time to build up. I havent started my website yet and I do have it on the list of things to do.What is the name of your website? Good luck with your endeavor.
 
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