Practical Rebels
Welcome to Practical Rebels: A Branding & Marketing Pod. Join the team at HatchMark Studio as we pull back the curtain and talk branding, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more with our friends, our partners, and our favorite industry experts.
From actionable tips for businesses to implement with the resources they have at hand to industry insights for seasoned pros, we discuss the latest in this ever-evolving world. We’re here to share, help, and give a peek into the agency world.
Through working with hundreds of clients at all phases of business development, we’re always learning, growing, and meeting incredible individuals. We’re excited to pass on that knowledge to you.
The goal? To empower you with practical advice that you can run with in a way that’s genuinely you. To encourage you to stand out, be bold, and make your mark on your industry, no matter your space.
Practical Rebels
29: Empowering the Next Generation of Pilots with Chris Tonn from Rocket Drones
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From the most affluent area of Dallas, Texas to the most beautiful beaches in the world, Chris Tonn’s rise to Pensacola’s drone guru is a story you want to hear!
Owner of @pelicandrones and co-founder of @rocketdronesracing, Chris Tonn’s life is lived in the clouds. Chris jumped on the Practical Rebels podcast with us to discuss how he discovered a once-hidden pathway to a diverse set of services in the drone industry, going from simple videos and photography to highly sought after inspection services and state-of-the-art mapping contracts.
It was soon after that he and his long-time friend Brand Turk founded Rocket Drones, a complete pathway in education that takes students from elementary to high school and introduces them to the exciting world of drones. Chris also talked about how Rocket Drones isn’t just teaching students about STEM through engaging drone activities, it’s preparing them for high-paying careers right out of high school with certifications, logged flight hours, and a comprehensive portfolio that employers want.
Tune into this episode of Practical Rebels where we peel back the curtain on the drone industry, the unique marketing challenges, and the future of career and technical education in an evolving professional landscape. Even better, all of this exciting innovation is happening right in our backyard in Pensacola, Florida.
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Make sure to check out all things from Rocket Drones down below 👇
👉 https://rocketdrones.com/
👉 IG - @rocketdronesracing
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Entrepreneurship and Dreams
Speaker 1All right, ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Practical Rebels. How are you doing over there? V, what? That's not V, that's Logan over there.
Speaker 2Yeah, V took the day off. Yes, she did Well, at least from the podcast, not from work.
Speaker 1Right, right, right, right, right. So Logan's going to be filling in today, and actually he's not filling. He's a vital part of Hatchmark Studio and he does a lot that you people don't know about and you don't see or you don't really hear about, because it's usually me and V. So, logan, why don't you tell them about what you do for Hatchmark real quick, before we get into our guest?
Speaker 2Yeah, why don't you tell them about what you do for Hatchmark real quick before we get into our guest? Yeah, my name is Logan Singleton. I was the project manager at Hatchmark for quite some time, but now I handle most of the content marketing strategy, not only for the agency, but for so many of our lovely clients and one of those people who's sitting with us today.
Speaker 1And who is sitting with us today and who is sitting with?
Speaker 2us today, chris Tan from Rocket Drones, but he probably knows a lot more about himself than I do, so we'll let Chris introduce himself. Hello.
Speaker 3Hello, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. I really do appreciate it. It's good vibes in here. Really do appreciate it, it's good vibes in here.
Speaker 1So what? Who is Chris Tahn?
Speaker 3Tell us who Chris Tahn is, Chris, I'm the guy in Pensacola with the coolest job behind the Blue Angels. Okay, you know, I've been fortunate enough that I was able to found Pelican Drones about a decade ago here in Pensacola, florida, and as a result, it's opened up so many unique opportunities and doors to really discover this amazing community that we have that I'm not even from originally. It's about the same time that I moved here was the same time that I was able to open up Pelican Drones and just enjoy a heck of a ride here and really build something that connects with a lot of unique types of businesses. I think that's my favorite part and why I say I have the coolest job. It's not just the drone aspect, it's meeting all different types of business owners and executing on their vision. And that's not just marketing. It may be inspection related, it may be a parking lot study, it may be a variety of things. But yeah, that's, in a nutshell, pelican and I've been fortunate enough to also co-found an educational drone company called Rocket Drones.
Speaker 1So you're not from here. Where are you from?
Speaker 3So originally I am from Dallas, texas, um and uh moved to Memphis, tennessee, when I was in high school. But it was a really neat chapter in life because I grew up in the richest zip code in Texas, which Texas, for those of you can imagine, is a very large economy it was larger than the GDP of Russia, just Texas by itself and I was living as just a normal kid in a fourplex over by the college campus of SMU, riding my bike to school, uh, in the richest zip code in Texas, and I got to see a lot of things that really opened my eyes early on. Uh, but also just uh, you know, kind of kind of said hey, there's a big world out there. If you want to go for something, you know, go for it. My mom, my dad, were amazing parents. My mom actually had a really unique connection to the aviation world where she was an executive administrative secretary for Aviol and Legend Airlines, a startup in Dallas that offered an all first class flight experience, and Avial, who worked on military planes and repaired parts and such.
Speaker 3But long story short. You know, I am someone that first came on a vacation to this area when I was a wee lad, I guess when I was a wee lad I guess a young kid and my dad took me to my first beach ever. It was Perdido Key and I just remember that so vividly, like it was yesterday. It was one of those where, you know, I just remember getting beat up by the waves and enjoying it. And my dad was a really unique individual, from being an entrepreneur and a boxing promoter, having exclusive rights with Don King and Muhammad Ali to do souvenir programs, to promoting some of the country's largest auto shows in his later chapters of business.
Speaker 3But ultimately I found my way down here in college and I was a student at the University of Memphis and I decided one summer I was like wow, I've got a little bit of freedom here, maybe I should go somewhere and work remotely. And, long story short, I ended up at the Hilton Sandestin being a bellman and a valet and I said if I ever get the chance to come back to this part of the country, I said if I ever get the chance to come back to this part of the country, I'm going to find a way. And anyways, that was kind of the start to me and you know connecting with this area.
Speaker 1It was a fun ride, okay. Okay, so you and I were talking yesterday and I said I wanted to bring it up. You said you worked the longest shift at the Hilton Sand Desk. Tell us a little bit about that. It's a little bit of an interesting story.
Speaker 3Yeah, you know, you get down to a place where there's a bunch of other college kids from all over the country, from Utah, from New York, from Texas, from Mississippi. We just got together and had a bunch of fun working with each other, but we also had an opportunity to play a little cards during lunch and I think at one point there was a little shortage of cash, so something like a work shift was put on the line for a wager and ultimately, I believe I lost that wager and picked up a double. So I held the longest shift at 24 hours straight there at the Hilton Sandestin as a bellman in the ballet. And just a fun time in life to be able to enjoy those types of scenarios of work and connect with other peers my age from all over and ultimately park. You know Maseratis and Hummer H1s and you know and enjoy people happy to be on vacation every day. It was a great. It was a great chapter.
Speaker 1Okay, okay.
Speaker 2So you talked about um. You currently you're affiliated with two companies, one that you founded on your own, pelican drones. Can you tell, just kind of tell us a little bit more about Pelican and maybe how that started? And I know you started talking a lot about the different service lines that you offer. That might, whenever people think of drones, they probably think you know video, real estate, things of that nature, but it's so much more than that.
Speaker 3It really is, and I I was never thinking that it was going to be this fast with all the versatility that we've seen so far. And you know it was right at 10 years ago, um, that Pelican was formed and, believe it or not, I didn't want to open up a Pelican drones, I was more comfortable in a sales uh, you know jacket. I just I felt comfortable with that criteria of work and I didn't want to necessarily reinvent the wheel. And what I mean was there was actually already a drone company in the Pensacola area that was by the name of Tower Drones and you know, long story short, we I approached the owner of Tower to try and collaborate on some sales opportunities and we started to go down that rabbit hole. And you know, long story short, I started to realize that there was no desire to really become certified, which at the time you had a pretty lengthy process to become an FAA certified drone operator. You had to get what was called a 333 exemption, and that was a custom petition to the FAA office in DC that was usually written by a lawyer that would stipulate and outline your safety protocols if you lost signal or you know just everything under the sun that kept you as a safe operator and your intentions for what you would do with this drone.
Speaker 3So, fast forward a little bit, I uncovered that you know again that these weren't an ambition of this previous company and I was like, well, somebody is going to have the relationships with the bigger you know corporate clients like Power or Portofino or anything really that wants to have an insurance policy involved. You're going to have to have these certifications. So I basically went out and I learned as much as I could about the certification process and I wrote my own 333 exemption and submitted it one day in the mail to the FAA. And in the meantime I said let's kind of start to work on the portfolio, let's educate the consumer of this market what this service is and what it looks like, because it falls nicely right off the bat into categories of things for sale, so things like houses and boats and offices and just lots of land. It really helps paint that picture. And I got to work showing some of that off that picture. And I got to work, you know, showing some of that off. But you know it was a month or so after that I heard back from the FAA and they said, hey, you're approved and it was like it was crazy. I mean, we're talking, you know number I don't know 90 something in the country, and and we were the first one in the region, you know, first one from New Orleans to like Jacksonville or something like that and and we were, we were ready to go to work, but I had only invested so much because I didn't want to go overboard until you kind of have that, that certification. So I went and I called my my Brandon Turk.
Speaker 3At the time, brandon had been in high school with me back in the Memphis days and he had recently finished a journey of his career with BlackBerry. As we know, a story of BlackBerry was a fun, fun ride of an upward, crazy cool Canadian tech company that ultimately just did not adapt to to the latest chapters of touchscreen and, as a result, brandon was looking for the same kind of startup experience of like, hey, it's a new chapter for me. I, I was in a new chapter as well, with some just life ambitions to get this going and basically we jumped in a car and we headed south. He had a diesel truck that ran on veggie oil at the time and we loaded it up with the veggie oil and we smelled fried chicken the whole way. And, uh, and it got to south florida, you know, stayed some marriott points, uh, in a hotel. You know, funding was tight, we just had whatever we what we had left over. And, um, we went to this school called dslr pros, who also sold us our first drone, which was a modified phantom uh drone that had this additional capability of smooth operations. And, you know, you get into the training camp 48 hours later. You know, you've gone through every maneuver, every understanding of shots, and we went straight to documenting our portfolios. And then I went back to pensacola and ultimately formed pelican drones. And he went back to memphis and formed a company called 901 Drones, which later became Mid-South Aerials. And this new chapter of reinvestment, really, of not just in the certification but also the training and, lastly, the equipment.
Speaker 3I kind of had a weird financial challenge of what am I going to do to get this really to the next level of investment, because I hadn't built the portfolio of clients, I was just working on the proof of concept. And so, um, I had some, some old gold coins that I had held onto and I just said, you know, these are from, these are from my mom and, uh, I had held onto them and held onto them, I mean, for decades these are from my mom and I had held on to them and held on to them, I mean, for decades. I unfortunately lost my mom when I was 17, in high school, right after September 11th 2001. But I said, you know, hey, if there's going to be something I'm going to put these coins to, let's do a little something on the startup biz. Let's do a little something on the startup biz. So I did it and I remember grabbing the first drone, the first camera, the first slider bar tripods, just everything to tell the story.
Speaker 3And Pelican Drones was born and it was something that started off very simply, like you said, with the photography side and the you know, bringing to life a story. But it easily and quickly became an engineering tool for things like hospitals were starting to hire us for parking lot studies to see if they should build a parking garage, and, you know, construction sites were calling us, having us progress imagery, you know, roads and bridges and major infrastructure projects, and the list continued to evolve from mapping and so on. So yeah, in a nutshell, it's been a fun little ride of how we we got this.
Speaker 2We got this going, and how did. Now it's you and Ben, so when did Ben come along with Pelican?
Speaker 3So Ben is the, the, the ultimate partner in Pelican drones. I would say that he came on about six years ago and the coolest part about Ben was he was a family friend that really had no drone experience experience.
Speaker 3He had you know a real interest in the drones and we were just messing around one day I was like hey, come by and fly the drone, you know, and, and let's, you know, just hang out, and, and, um, we were, you know, talking, and I hand him the controller to the drone, and and he's just, you know, I'm explaining it to him and he's just instantly adapting. You know, just like kids mapping out a video game controller, he has mapped out the forward, backwards, up and down and all the other maneuvers of this drone within moments. And then I'm starting to give some instructions. Hey, try to do an orbit with the drone. Hey, try to, you know, back up and go up at the same time, like a super selfie. And he's just executing these commands like flawlessly.
Speaker 3And I was like Ben, like we got to get you over here. I'm at a point of growth that you've got to come on board. So Ben began learning a craft you know from scratch. You know, and that's the. That's the crazy part is we're in a chapter where not just drones are new, but camera gimbals are new, because camera gimbals are really the secret sauce that made drones remotely even tolerable to watch the video footage that's on there. You'd otherwise be seeing vibrating footage the whole time, but the gimbal is what smooths it out and would ultimately replace things like the steady cam and these weighted solutions, and so a lot of old videographers just running around with tripods all over the place and we're running around with these space age looking gimbal devices and and shooting interior. So we were, uh. So yeah, ben has been just an amazing asset and is now a partner and part owner in pelican drones. Um, so that you know, we we have some bandwidth to also expand into some new territories, such as rocket a little bit too.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think Ben's story. I think we'll be able to circle back to that, because I think that he's the perfect case study for the opportunities as someone who's looking for a career in drones and how that barrier to entry can be made even smaller through programs like Rocket Drones. So if you tell us a little bit about rocket drones, what is rocket drones?
Drone Employment Skills and Education
Speaker 3So it's amazing how we you know, a decade goes by, and and and and. You know that same friend, um, you know, Brandon and I got together on a on a call during COVID. Uh, you know, brandon had had. Brandon had later integrated some of his business at Mid-South Aerials into Wozniak Education doing some drone STEM kits, and those STEM kits were finding their way into middle and elementary schools across the country. And then COVID hit and basically this moment of pause we were pondering a little bit about like hey, these are great, you know, you know engagement devices, but it seems like it's kind of, you know, it's not really a pathway, it's just an eye opener moment, which most STEM kits are. But basically, rocket drones was an idea by Brandon to essentially bring drone racing and drone gamification to elementary through high schools so that we can teach and competitively incentivize the kiddos to learn the skill set of manual drone piloting. And just for those of you that don't know when the drone that you see outside oftentimes is up flying around and doing its work or doing its photography and such, those drones are on a very computer pilot mode of autopilot. There's angle limiters, there's all sorts of computer-based devices that are keeping that drone perfectly in flight, and so much so that I can take my hands off of it and have a podcast with you and I can tell that drone to move later when I need it to.
Speaker 3But that's not the reality of the comfort that I am going to get when I'm on a job site, that I am going to get when I'm on a job site and I'm sending a new pilot out by himself or herself and there's a failure in that GPS, or you know, heck, they're just under a tree or under some structure and the GPS can't get a signal. Well now what happens? I have to revert back to being a pilot. Pilot and that means I know how to compensate for the wind when I don't have GPS. That means I know how to control my altitude without an altimeter. That means I'm really a manual pilot. So in the translation, we can get a commercial certification for a student coming out of high school at the age of 16. It's a knowledge-based exam that the FAA has opened up to this age group. But if we can pair that with the skill set of manual drone piloting, you've got yourself a very employable young professional coming out of school ready to not just say I'm certified, but also to be able to show that they're qualified.
Speaker 1Yeah, so you built rocket drones out of necessity.
Speaker 3So it was an interesting blessing to see someone like Ben come into Pelican drones and be very coachable and easily trainable. But that is not always the case. And what we were seeing after Ben, when we would look at opportunities to expand into either subcontracting work or potential other growth employees of Pelican, we were noticing that there was a disconnect on the comfort of bringing on someone that doesn't have the understanding of a manual pilot skillset. So you know when I would go and I would turn off the GPS which we can do on the drones uh, and Ben, one of Ben's favorite modes uh, uh, when there's a challenge, make it spicy, he loves it. Um, but, uh, you know. But you would notice that a lot of pilots would just immediately uh-oh, uh-oh, it's on an ice skating rink, what's it doing? And that was a big eye opener for me. That was the moment when I said there's no way I'm sending someone out to a job site by themselves without this skill set. It's just not happening. We have too much at risk for our own reputation. We're a service provider. This is what we do day in and day out. We'd have to know the basics at the end of the day. So, yeah, this was a. This was a. This is a fun, necessity based hiring tool, but it wasn't.
Speaker 3It was paired nicely with some timing and some drive from a good old friend that wanted to get into education with drones, and and I was ready for it. You know I was. I was a little bit hesitant at first because you know, when you look at drone racing, it's a complicated sport. I mean, we have to track. We have to track the drones when they're going around the race course. We have to you know, train pilots to get up and running to this level. We have to understand interference from get up and running to this level. We have to understand interference from video signals and tune out. We have to just repair the drone on the spot if there's an issue. I mean, these are all the things, though, that I'm going to want as an employer. I don't want that phone call saying hey, the drone's not working, versus like hey, the drone had a little issue, we fixed it, we got the job done, we're headed back. That's what we want.
Speaker 1So, to break it down, you, you Rocket Drones is a kit that gets shipped to schools, and schools use this to teach their students, and then the students learn how to get their CTE, or certification, which makes them ready for the world, through droning.
Speaker 3So it's that and a few extras. It's evolved from its beginning chapter of exactly what you said, with drone racing in a kit form that I can then go and I can wheel out into class or after school and I can start to educate and teach these kiddos the thought, the process of manual flight. But we have expanded to include curriculum that enlightens the kiddos on what these jobs look like, where the use case scenarios of the drones are the history of drones, the dissection of drones, how they fly. We teach it all on the curriculum side.
Speaker 3But we also very heavily gamify and include simulations and things to really engage with the students, because I was one of those kids in school that you know, if you just gave me a chapter to read, it was okay. You know we're gonna do this, I'm gonna have to read it a couple times and you know it's just gonna be what it is. But when you include things, uh, like gamification simulators, um, you know, gamification is is something that has become so standardized in the app world of when we game and when we do all this stuff we're getting, you know, marshmallows exploding across the screen or whatever else in between, and it's, it's, it's a, it's a fun, it's a fun side to this.
Speaker 3So, um, recently we've launched a classroom drone uh for our younger audiences, but it's kind of one of those we call it first time fire, friend friendly and veteran gamified so that you know if you want to, uh, you know, take an activity that's in that kit like drone limbo or drone tennis or drone golf or drone drifting or drone fishing.
Speaker 3You know we have that, you know, fun, engaging way to really build, you know, some some engagement with the kids beyond that, that teaching layer. You know some, some engagement with the kids beyond that, that teaching layer. And furthermore, we've made it in such a way that you know if you want to take a drone into the math class or the spelling class and have the kids fly to the correct answer on the on the screen or the board. You know we're we're getting into these chapters where you have to be creative to get the kiddos attentions nowadays, and sometimes this material especially for me it was math. I hated some of the algebras and calculuses, but you know some of these tools are really neat engagement elements. But yes, in a nutshell, Rocket Drones provides drone education through a gamified approach and curriculum and certification training and through drone racing.
Speaker 2So with that, you mentioned something earlier, ramsey, the CTE aspect of it and a lot of like. For people who don't know the career in technical education you think of automotive, maybe cosmetology, things of that nature how has drone racing and kind of been threaded into that conversation as? And I was reading a study recently that talked about how you know kids now and that are in high school are maybe not seeing the value of the traditional four-year university and how, um, drones are offering another pathway.
Success Stories in Drone Education
Speaker 3yep, yeah, yeah, no, this was the. I think this was what really drew me in in that beginning moment where I was like, oh, wow, this is, this is a big undertaking in the first part of launching rocket drones and simplifying drone racing, but to to later come into perspective that there's no longer just wood shop and auto shop, it's it's 3d printing, it's welding, it's cyber security, it's, you know, roofing and hvac and plumbing, it's all of the trades and drones and then some. You know there's gotten to be a chapter here in the last, I guess, 10 years where trades have become a huge pay opportunity right out of high school. I mean, we're talking now, you know, $80,000 to $120,000 in some cases coming out of high school To go to college, yeah, or to get right into the trades, right into the you know, um, you know it's. It's interesting.
Speaker 3We had a gentleman on my, my podcast, uh, recently, aerial perspectives, uh, that that was a pilot here that that leads over 100 pilots across the country of the world doing wind turbine inspection. I said you, you know what is the average pay for these? You know, young pilots coming out of high school, cause they can start at the company at around 21 and they're like it's $85,000 plus a brand new, you know Chevy 2,500 with cell booster and power inverters and all the fun stuff. So you know, and that's just flying drones. I mean, you've got you know things in super shortage. I believe aviation, you know, pilot wise, we have a shortage. Aviation mechanics we have a shortage, and these are high paying jobs. These aren't, you know, little little ones. So, anyways, it was very eye opening and I really appreciated understanding that that drones was part of this.
Speaker 3And once I knew that, you know, drones was a huge part of CTE, it kind of turned into, ok, the most confusing part about teaching people about drones. It's not the flying, it's the multi-industry, it's because you're going thermal and inspection of solar panels or if it's, you know, photography, videography all of those subcategories are different skill sets. So now I have to learn ISO aperture and camera settings. I need to know a thing or two about video editing. I need to know a thing or two about how shadows affect the pictures. So, yeah, you know, you get into a career in technical educators, seeing the opportunity, seeing that this certification is there, and they're looking and they're hungry, uh, for a pathway to give their kiddos to have a skillset to go along with it. So drone racing was one of those that that uh, uh, thankfully has has been of interest. Uh, to bring a little fun too. I mean, let's face it, it's not just a desirable skill set. The kiddos are bumping shoulders and having fun with other kids that they may have never met before.
Speaker 1And you know it's interesting. You're talking about that because I went to college, didn't last became a DJ trade and have been fine. You know the average cost I think of going to college right now is somewhere between $80,000 to $100,000. And I just saw you know your son is Catholic and he's at Catholic. The college is starting to think about it. I found this Instagram target on this account. It shows you what the grade point average is. You have to get into these schools Florida State now. To get in, your core grade point average has got to be a 4.2. To get in at the University of Florida, I think your core grade point average has got to be 4.5 to like 4.9. Like good gracious, you know what I'm saying. Not everybody has that and you know kudos to those who do. But I mean my goddaughter got into the University of Florida and I know that she applied. I think every one of my friend's kids applied and none of them got in.
Speaker 3She got in.
Speaker 1It's a good. What I'm trying to say is you don't have to go to college, um, to be successful in life and droning djing, my dad, was an aircraft mechanic and he worked at lockheed for years. He was the head head, one of the head mechanic inspectors for um, for delta, for years and used to fly all around and make sure and all that kind of stuff. So, um, I applaud what you do and when you came on I learned about it. I'm like yes right.
Speaker 1Yes, like these kids don't know that they're getting taught to be successful in their life, that they learn it and then apply it when they get out of school. So I've always been a big fan of rocket drones, so um yeah, well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3I'm a big, I'm a big believer in doing both. You know, having that, that cert of some kind coming out of high school and and still leaving the door open for higher education, there's a. You know, if philosophy didn't work out at college, you got to fall back, uh, on some other really cool high paying jobs. So know, there's, there's some some neat opportunities nowadays, for sure.
Speaker 1Um. Can you share a story about you know a student or educator that you know?
Speaker 3has a success story.
Speaker 1Yeah, you know I, I will say that rocketrones is a very young company.
Speaker 3We've only been for sale for about a year and a half now almost two years, I should say. But during that journey of getting product out, obviously schools go in play with semesters, so sometimes you make a summer sale and it takes time to get the items up and running within the school systems. But the coolest part so far has been, you know, recently we've had some trade shows and we've had some teachers that showed up at the trade show and they said, hey, we want to wear our shirts at the trade show in support of rocket drones, shirts at the trade show in support of rocket drones, and they kind of came up with these ideas together and I was like, oh my gosh, absolutely, and and uh, they kind of were like our cheerleaders at the trade show and they were talking about how like yeah, these guys answer their phone and, uh, they actually have support, they're they're super helpful, they're they're super helpful, they're they're industry professionals, they just you know, it was very just full circle kind of cool to see, like what you have been thinking is a good fit for these educators actually ended up being something that they just purely love. Constantly lean on educators for feedback, because we're not educators, we're drone. You know industry, you know voices, but we have a passion for education and we we understand that there's so many scenarios we can't put our mind in the same mindset of, like, what's it like to have a room full of 30 kids for 45 minutes and try, and you know, get something done.
Speaker 3Wow, you know, just put your, put your thinking cap on there. But you know, get something done. Wow, you know, just put your, put your thinking cap on there. But you know, that was a really full circle thing. I think that you know. We're just now seeing teams starting to get up and running with their race programs. We have a team coming to our San Antonio Career and Technical Educators Conference. It's the national ACTE conference. In San Antonio We'll be having an exhibition match, our first ever Rocket Drones exhibition match. So that'll be. That's cool, it's really cool and we're going to be hearing, hopefully, some more stories that might relate to the student side, but so far, just the teacher.
Speaker 1So real quick side quest. So these are rocket drone teams from the teams that you've that have gotten the kit and gotten good themselves. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3Wow, yeah, we're in a big chapter of of of. You know cause? It's one thing to sell something in the business world, right, you may sell a box of Kleenexes and it's gone. Yeah, I'll just buy another gone. You know, I was like I'll just buy another one.
Speaker 3You know, but to sell a product with a service and an education that needs to be reused every week and retaught to every class, and there's a lot that goes into that thought and that whole ecosystem, and to see it actually up and running at this next conference is going to be a very very just big deal for the team. It's going to be very cool.
Speaker 2You talked about selling and I kind of want to stop there for a little bit or just like expand on that one, because you know we work directly with Rocket Drones, with some marketing initiatives and stuff like that. And social media, um, cause I have to imagine rocket drones Isn't the only game in town. I've have a feeling there are some other people out there trying to either replicate what y'all are doing or doing something a little bit different. So how do you communicate that rocket drones? Cause you said something that resonated with me and these guys actually answer the phone Like what is?
Speaker 2different about rocket drones. That's that unique selling point that you think.
Speaker 3That is the special sauce to say, to use your words Well, I hate to say it, but one of the reasons we jumped into this big boy space of education is because a lot of the products that were existing within drone education, especially for schools, were just hand-me-down, just not good solutions for education.
Speaker 3There was a lot of just hey, here's a drone, here's a PDF, best of luck, some hula hoops will throw some hula hoops at you, some hula hoops will throw some hula hoops at you, and you know. So, yeah, I think that there'sire 3 for twenty thousand dollars, you know, and neither one's going to come with curriculum, neither one's going to come with games, neither one's going to come with logbooks and instructions and pathways. So really, the solution and the differentiator to rocket drones is the understanding of OK, the kids are up and flying. Understanding of okay, the kids are up and flying. Now what? And this is that pathway to either you know something that stays kind of simple or goes to the next chapter, if you have some kiddos that are interested, and if you're interested in in taking those kids to, uh, to that skillset or that cert or that, uh, competitive league. It's all, it's all there under rocket.
Speaker 2So yeah, yeah, I think that, um, and you and I talk about this all the time um, in terms of rocket drones and you know some educators who even might be very interested in it and even, maybe even, passionate about offering rocket drones they might be thinking to themselves you know, gosh, you know how much work and extra effort am I going to have to put into this thing? And it really does seem to me that Rocket Drones is that out-of-the-box experience that you have everything that you need as an educator, ready to go and ready to get the kids up and flying and working towards something that there's a to use what you say a clear pathway. It's not random, it's just hey, here's the box, here's everything you need to go and you're off to the races.
Reaching Educators With Rocket Drones
Speaker 3That's exactly right, and and that's why we love hatch mark. So you know it's, it's great when you're, when you're your marketing partners, live and and eat and breathe the same understanding of your own product, um, as as we do. So, yeah, it's um, it's. It's something that we feel strongly is a good solution, but we're never stop improving. There's future stuff. There's all sorts of unique chapters ahead that I'm sure we'll talk about some too.
Speaker 2Well, with marketing especially, I know we have, you know, we're always brainstorming with Chris about different ways to reach educators, because it is a very niche audience that has a very you know, they have a different approach to a lot of things. There's different states, there's different funding, there's different times of the year for stuff like that. So what are some other strategies? I know we've talked about the webinar, um, can you talk to any of that? How rocket drones is trying to reach not, I mean, maybe not even the masses, maybe it's just those, those select people who actually need to hear your message yeah.
Speaker 3So one of the ways because we still are a, you know, if I say drone racing for education out loud, your, your, your imagination is gonna go. You know we have to paint that picture either in person or through video or a live meeting of some kind electronically. But trade shows have been one of the areas we've gotten a lot of real success because you get to go to a trade show that obviously can isolate career and technical educators or can isolate technology and STEM teachers, can isolate just superintendents. But you know, really getting in front of these decision makers and bringing them up to speed that, hey, there is a product out there that fits these check marks that you've been after. That's number one. We love in-person trade shows. We also love in-person road shows, going to the schools and having the schools invite surrounding schools with career and tech emphasis.
Speaker 3We also have our new podcast called Aerial Perspectives, where we actually interview a variety of drone pilots from all different. You know all different walks of life, all different industries. We understand, you know we talk about their pay, we talk about how they got in the business. We talk about you know what a spicy day at work looks like. You know, you name it and, and you know, thanks, thanks to Ramsey too, as a as a, as a helper in getting us set up with gear and knowledge on of that.
Speaker 3But it's always something that we never stop on multiple channels, putting the message out, and that's what you have to do as a business owner, is you never stop promoting, but you also never stick to one medium type. So you know, those are some of the channels. I'm sure I'm leaving out a few like webinars and um. Also, we have some obvious social media. We have some wonderful ad campaigns that we're continuing to tweak and enhance and, over time, just have the full gamut, because if you're not, um, you're not doing more than one thing, if you're not walking and chewing gum at the same time, it's it's going to be hard in today's world to get noticed with all the noise.
Speaker 2Yeah, we see that with a lot of our clients. Um, you got to do it all and um, you know you can't just be really good at one thing. You have to, you have to be able to dabble in a lot of things and you have to be willing to try new things too and realize that, hey, if this doesn't work like you, don't get defeated, you just pivot to something else. And you know, it's like that, that perpetual quest to find the thing that is working really well, and then, whenever you do, it's just like hammer down on that. Yep.
Speaker 3Absolutely.
Speaker 2Yeah, so I mean you know the future of rocket drones. I mean we know where it's at right now, or at least Ramsey and I will be. Uh, we had no idea that the classroom was such a uh huge, uh demand area for, uh, easier access to get.
Speaker 3you know I don't have time to always get the gym or the cafeteria. You know these schools have to share these resources. So, uh, that just launched within the last three months and it's just been going crazy because, you know it's a it's it's it's where all the games live, it's where all the you know real baseline of getting integrated is. But the next on the list for us is our coding drone. We are in a chapter in this country where, you know, making things here again is something that is not just a, you know, dream. It's almost becoming an essential for receiving federal funding. As you know, schools receive a lot of that federal funding and you know, having equipment built here that finds its way into those hands of our educators is something that's going to become a more and more focused chapter for us. So the coding drone is going to be that first attempt. And the reason we do a coding drone is because in the drone world of employment and industry desires, you're either going to be training to pilot these drone and remote operate them, or you're training to code them and do an autonomous mission like mapping or security or whatever else in between. So the coding drone will allow for students to really learn the basics of code and see it literally come to life in front of their eyes. So the goals of these coding drones may be something again still gamified where we're doing things like a drone light show inside the gym, where we're doing things like coding a drone to go through an obstacle course and then later through an entire race, maybe with another autonomous drone, we're really getting into a chapter that allows the kids to see that this is something that's very versatile and very capable beyond just the piloting side of opportunities. So that's one thing that's next for us.
Speaker 3Another thing that's really exciting is, as I mentioned earlier, we have to start with a baseline of education and skill set, and in this case it's manual piloting. Manual piloting is how we get the gamification. Gamification is how we get all the incentives for the kids to keep going with this. So the next chapter keep going with this. So you know, the next chapter is the industry focus. So if we want to go into photography, or if we want to go into mapping or agriculture or, you know, security, whatever it is I need to then learn the next layer of skillset, which, in the case of photography let's just leave an example of this out there.
Speaker 3We need to come up with a solution to not just coming up with a rocket drones drone photography course. We're very hungry, and so are the students, for an industry partner. So if I were to put a happy path on this, it would look something like PAPA Professional Aerial Photographers Association and Rocket Drones would sit down and we would develop a drone photography certification or course that students that have this desire to go for this next level of understanding of how they can take the manual piloting skillset, take that FAA commercial drone certification and now layer on drone photography, drone mapping. Now I'm coming out of school and I've got some real versatility of knowledge and skillset and the whole shabam, but these are the things that we think are the next desires of all of our educators that are out there looking for these next steps. So, in a nutshell, that's the future chapters. There's a few others, but we'll keep those under wraps for now.
Speaker 2There's a few others, but we'll keep those under wraps for now. Yeah, so if you're, I mean, I'm sold on it. I've been sold on it for a while and I know that everyone here at Hatchmark believes in it. If you're an educator who might be listening to this you know what's. You know if it sounds all good, what's step one, you know.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's, it's, it's funny, it's we're, we're kind of old school. I'll be honest with you, but you just, you know, go to the website, you know, look at, look at our sample of our curriculum, check out our videos. Um, you know, see the see the um you know world of gamification, of drone limbo and, uh, drone racing and drone golf, and check it out for your own self, Cause, again, as we talk about it, the imagination's going wild. So see it first and then reach out. You know, um, we have a calendar integrated onto our website so that you can just pick a time that's convenient for you. Uh, we have some wonderful uh um social media channels that you can chime in on that we're always monitoring and listening for. So whatever is easiest for you really to get engaged with us, and then we'll take over from there of making sure we understand what your school needs and build you a custom quote, or just keep things simple and keep it moving.
Speaker 1I'm ordering rocket drones right now.
Speaker 2Good, yeah, we're um, we're rocket drones fanatics. You brought in some of the samples early on with the classroom stuff and, uh, we flew the drone around the office for a while. It's a lot of fun and I mean it's. I find myself I'm like man. I wish something like this was available whenever I was in high school. But it's great that these young kids have an opportunity to explore other pathways and not only other pathways, but, it seems to me, highly lucrative ones straight out of high school, like you don't have to skip any steps, you just go straight into it. Or you don't, um, have to, don't have to skip any steps, you know, you just go straight into it.
Speaker 1Or you don't have to take out that loan. And let's be real here, logan, you were the. You flew the drone the majority of the time.
Speaker 1People tried to get it from me and I was like I don't think I'm done yet. Um, so I want to talk real quick. Uh, side class's the podcast going. How's all that working? Like, how are you operating it? Because you know I it makes me very proud that you have the roadcaster and y'all are just shooting episodes and y'all are using video. So talk to us a little bit more about the podcast, because that's really exciting to me it is.
Building Drone Timers and Education
Speaker 3It's a. It's a. It's a cool uh podcast because I get to sit down with you know, know, basically, uh, different versions of me that that go out into the world and do these different drone jobs. Uh, it's again called aerial perspectives. It's uh. We're about three episodes in. I think. Uh, by next week we'll have our fourth. Um, we'll be launching, hopefully by, oh, I'd say, the first little couple weeks of December here, in just a few weeks, Nice.
Speaker 1Yeah, so stay tuned for that.
Speaker 3You'll see some good posts on social media about it, I'm sure. And yeah, it's a wonderful little sit down session where we get to really just take a deeper dive, and it serves a double edged sword, you know, it's a really cool thing to be able to show a spotlight on these future jobs and these current jobs, that we have a big question mark of what that looks like in a day in the life. So, um, you know that's that's something we, um, we're very excited about and and really I can't wait to hear some of the, some of these more niche drone jobs as we continue the journey down that path, because drones are doing it, they in every industry. Uh, imagine right now, and it's, it's just, it's just so cool to see.
Speaker 1I'm so excited for you guys and you know, I have to say that I am proud because you know I I am a big fan of podcasts and if you're listening, no, I think every business should have a podcast. So I'm glad you guys are doing it and I can't wait to listen to it. I got another question too what are you building? Every time I go over there and just for those people who don't know, we're literally a golf cart right away from the Rocket Drone's office and so we frequent over there and they got a cool little setup and they're always like building stuff. So I just want to get the low down real quick yeah, so I, I, really I.
Speaker 3I unfortunately didn't mention some of the additional team at rocket, which is, you know, chantry holdman, who's an amazing fpv pilot and engineering mind. Um, and our lead drone engineer and designer, chris Pigeot, who happens to be a friend of Change Race as well, from back in the drone FPV days of Pensacola, fpv Racers, and you know these, these, along with some other trainers we have in the field, josh and you know some developers are in the background, but basically, this is a never-ending journey of development and simplification so that we can package it up, put it in the classroom and it can be used day in and day out. And one of the things that we're most proud of that we built right here in Pensacola is some of the gamification tracking systems, which is our race timer. This timing system is something that tracks the video signals of the drones as they race around the race course and it accurately times them and we have a.
Speaker 3That's so cool it is. It's even cooler to see you know interns from you know University of West Florida's electrical engineering team coming by and joining us in board builds and Chantry teaching his craft to a new generation of engineering minds that really don't get to do this hands-on type of work in the college classroom setting. So we literally do. We pick and place a PCB board that we designed, that is the drone timer. So you'll often sometimes come over and see an assembly line of these electronic boards. Come over and see, um, an assembly line of these electronic boards. Okay and uh, once they've placed the parts on the solder paste that's been stenciled over, they then put it in a reflow oven and the reflow oven, uh, is a really high temperature oven. That variation it varies its its melt points so that it can melt the uh, um, the little solder paste just right for these components. We placed and it goes, and we basically pair it with our 3D printed case that gets a Rocket Drone sticker and this is something that has been a really cool thing to see in little Pensacola.
Speaker 3I often think of Rocket Drones as the biggest sleeper little business story in Pensacola's backyard, because we're over here, you know building, you know drone devices. We're over here, you know teaching the baseline of drone education, and because our message is so national, it's sometimes you don't the the same level of love on the local community that I do with pelican, but but yeah, we're building our own um timers. We're building our own coding drone here in-house. We have a very cool collaboration, uh, with ihmc, which is just so cool um to see like hey guys, you know mind, if I use the reflow oven, you know we got a board to cook uh you know, mind, if I use the reflow oven.
Speaker 3You know we got a board to cook, uh. You know it's just like a. It's become a regular little back and forth Um and uh. You know that's that's. You know, for those that don't know, it's just you know that's um, the um, I believe, the, what the uh initials for it are human incognition Institute for Human Machine Cognition. Thank you, logan. Thank you, logan. I always forget that. You know that's just a neat thing to have in your backyard of Pensacola. So we've leaned on them a little bit for some, you know project help and stuff, but at the end of the day we hope to grow the manufacturing side, uh. So the next time when you come over, it's, it's, it's even more going on. We, we hope to build these drones here one day. We hope to build um, you know uh, a lot more than just um. You know our timing system.
Speaker 2That's what's so awesome about Pensacola for people listening who don't live here. It's a small city but we're growing very rapidly and, um, you know, we get to have awesome clients who are right down the street like rocket drones and so many clients just being able to come in and out and to hear that IHMC is coming in and out and all that and it's just. It's just a cool community and I think that that's just like something really special and unique about this place, where you're just everyone's a five minute drive away, just kind of. There's so much cool stuff happening here and it's just it's. It's inspiring to see every day and it's just great to be a part of it.
Speaker 1It is All right, we're about to get out of here, but ready for the burning question, let's hear it. If you could go back in time and give yourself a piece of advice when starting rocket or pelican drones, what would it be? And if you want to answer both of those, you can do that too.
Speaker 3Wow um, this is, this is a hard one, you know, it's you. Sometimes. I think it make it hard because you might not do more than one thing, sometimes differently, but they get technical. For me, if I were to just generalize it into one focal point, it would probably be to just be a little bit more pushing on that envelope of where you feel um opportunities are. I think that I think that early on you think that, oh, I'll never get that client, that's too big Um, I'll never be able to charge that much, that's too much.
Speaker 3You know the, the, the unfortunate um side effect of that is, uh, you can stay in that little uh mental zone for a while and and and, until you really break out in and try um or expand into these, whether it is a price area or whether it is a service area of expertise. You have to be willing to push that envelope before you mentally. You know, make a marker in your mind. I think that we get a little comfortable early on and on making those markers for us um based on what we think others will, uh will accept. So, yeah, I would just say, yes, push that limit uh, push that limit uh and and know your boundaries of of those um price and offerings and other things, as much as you can yeah, and to that, our last guest, chloe.
Speaker 1I had the, you know, the huge blessing of working with her and coming up in the wedding industry and they had to push me out of my comfort zone.
Speaker 2Yeah I was like oh no I'm getting booked at this price.
Speaker 1As a dj, I don't want to run people off and the first person I gave a quote to they were like cha-ching, yeah. So yeah, don't be scared, push it out there. And you know, it may not get the first person, but it may get the second, third, fourth and fifth yeah, absolutely it's not.
Speaker 3it's just price too. You know too. You know sometimes it's a new chapter of an offering where you might take that business, and you don't know. If you don't try you won't know, right, right.
Rocket Drones Contact and Conclusion
Speaker 1Exactly, there's another part of that Fail and fail fast. Yeah, yeah, all right, chris, we're going to wrap it up and get out of here. Where can people find you, get in touch with you if they want to order a rocket drones kit or learn more?
Speaker 3So you can reach out to us at rocket dronescom or, if you're interested in the principle from drone things, pelican dronescom.
Speaker 2Okay, ramsey would tell you to follow us on social.
Speaker 3We love that too. Wants to see the numbers boosted.
Speaker 1Always want to see the numbers, man, come on, let's go, all right. With that being said, we're going to do a Practical Rebels out. Do you know the Practical Rebels out?
Speaker 3I need a refresher.
Speaker 2Yeah, me too I need a refresher.
Speaker 1Okay, I'm going to go one, two, three Practical Rebels and then at the same time, we're going to go out. Okay, alright, one, two, three Practical Rebels out, possibly the deepest out ever on Practical Rebels Love it.