Blue Nose Aerial Imaging Grows Drone Franchise Reach

Colorado-based and veteran-owned Blue Nose Aerial Imaging, the only franchised commercial drone services provider in the United States, continues to expand its one-of-a-kind model. Since its inception in March 2020, the company has brought on 27 franchises across 18 states. Its target: to reach 50 operational locations by the end of this year, and 100 by the end of 2022.

CEO Tanner Harris, a former Navy E-6 Mercury pilot and a current flight instructor on the Boeing 757/767, started the company just when COVID struck. As lockdowns began, he and many other airline pilots faced potential job loss as air travel ground to a near standstill. Knowing that unemployment was potentially on the horizon, Harris set out to create a low-cost and flexible drone services franchise model so that other pilot-entrepreneurs would join his team. And they did.

Within 24 hours of launching the company’s original website, five of Harris’ Navy veteran airline pilot colleagues reached out to him and expressed interest in setting up their own drone business.

“That’s when I knew there were a lot of people out there who were interested in the drone industry, but didn’t know where to start. That’s exactly how our franchise model came about.” Harris continued, “I’m a firm believer that in every crisis lies opportunity.”

The Blue Nose opportunity took on the form of an efficient turn-key solution that removes common barriers to entry for business owners. The company helps new franchisees get certified, trains them, and ships them a “Business in a Box” starter kit. The kit includes a drone and everything needed to start one’s own business, from a Mavic 2 Pro drone and relevant manuals to Blue Nose apparel and business cards.

Once franchise owners become part of the Blue Nose team, the company continues to provide them with business development support, coordinated marketing strategies, access to the company’s strategic partners, website integration, ongoing training initiatives, and access to clients in a variety of industries.

Blue Nose franchises operate across several different sectors, including commercial real estate, marketing, construction, golf course management and agriculture. One of the company’s more novel applications includes cannabis and hemp plant management in permissive locations such as Colorado, California, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Blue Nose drone operations in the hemp/cannabis space are similar to traditional agriculture, enabling harvest optimization, yield estimation, and disease and pest recognition. Unique to cannabis and hemp precision agriculture, however, drones also help identify male plants which, left unchecked, can cross pollinate with female plants and significantly reduce crop yields. On a 10-15 acre small farm, the traditional method of crop inspection, walking rows of plants, can take between 4-5 days. A drone can do this same work in 4-5 hours.

Blue nose franchises are not limited to a static list of verticals. Owners have near complete autonomy to find revenue sources in their local markets. Harris explained, “Together, we work towards developing a common brand, which will eventually garner enough recognition that it will create revenue opportunities for each of us in the long run.”

Developing this common brand and accomplishing such a wide variety of work requires building a professional drone force instilled with a safety mindset. Culture starts with people, according to Harris. Many of his franchisees come from general aviation and the military, where safety culture is deeply ingrained in operations. To permeate that same safety culture consistently throughout all its franchises, the company recently launched the Blue Nose Academy as its primary training platform for all owners.

The Academy consists of an ever-growing online arsenal of written materials specially curated by photography, videography, GIS, and business development experts. “For us, raising the bar for drone service providers begins with training and standardization,” noted Harris. “The Blue Nose Academy is the key component to achieve that.”

What’s over the horizon for Blue Nose? Harris eventually plans to expand into advanced air mobility operations.

“Much like the history of the airlines, I suspect the unmanned transportation of people and cargo will become highly regulated, which will drive significant training requirements, comprehensive integration within the national airspace system, and the allocation of a standardized route structure,” he said. “When that day arrives, Blue Nose will be ready!”