When he was 6 years old, Dominic Allie, ‘24, unwrapped his first drone on Christmas morning. Ten drones and ten years later, today, Allie is the founder of aerial photography company Skydro Solutions. 

Dominic learned to fly drones using YouTube tutorials, where he discovered a community of entrepreneurs who use drones for business. He became eligible for a drone license after turning 16 and spent six months studying for the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) aeronautical knowledge exam. Dominic earned his remote pilot certificate after passing the exam in December 2021.

“I loved [my first drone] so much that I always planned to start a drone business once I turned 16,” Dominic said. “I’ve always been interested in starting businesses. [Skydro Solutions] was just a natural next step.” 

Skydro Solutions specializes in residential and commercial real estate photography. Allie has taken on projects from filming construction work and music videos to photographing a Cincinnati nursing home, The Barrington Of Oakley.

Dominic launched his business by creating a website using Wix.com, a website development company. After taking Digital Imaging, Dominic used Adobe Illustrator to create a logo for Skydro Solutions. He acquired his first customers by asking neighbors if they needed his services. 

“Finding clients is the hardest part and then the second hardest part would be editing,” Dominic said. 

When he first began the business, Dominic used companies such as droners.io that facilitate connecting drone pilots to real estate agents. He now cold emails realtors, with about a 5% response rate, to market his services. By removing the “middle man” he maintains higher profit margins.

The day of a shoot begins with researching airspace regulations of the location. If there are restrictions, Dominic works with the FAA to bypass them. Then, he makes a shot list, shoots the photos and videos, edits them and sends the deliverables back to his client.

“It’s been really fun, I like the experience of working with big companies and it’s very eye-opening how the real estate market works,” Dominic said. 

The recent downturn in the real estate market has made booking jobs more challenging.

“It’s harder to convince a realtor to give up money when they’re scared that they’re not going to be making more money back,” Dominic said.

Despite this, working with adults and professionals in the real estate industry comes naturally to Dominic.

“It makes me a little nervous sometimes, but I feel like it’s easier actually [to work in an adult-dominated field] because people want to give me a fresh start or take a chance on me and help me out,” Dominic said.

One of Dominic’s biggest supporters has been his mom, Aisela Allie, who drove him to every shoot before he got his driver’s license. 

“We supported him definitely emotionally, understanding that [his business is] his passion and supporting that and not crushing it [by saying] ‘Oh, this is never gonna work. You shouldn’t do this. Just focus on school,’ which is a temptation because… as an adult, you can see that this is such a hard field to enter, but we tried to balance that with ‘Well, this is his passion, and how you learn is by failing, building something and possibly failing. And that’s okay.’” Aisela said.

Since starting Skydro Solutions, Aisela has seen Dominic grow in maturity and wise risk-taking.

“He’s grown in his decision-making ability, and in his communication with adults who are asking for services,” Aisela said. “There’s been some really impressive growth and we’re really impressed how now when he makes decisions, he’s able to look at [its implications] from all angles.” 

Dominic joined The Chatterbox staff this school year as a drone pilot to get more practice flying drones. He has taken aerial photos of the school, homecoming and football games. He’s currently working on filming instructional drone videos. 

“It’s nice to see him doing well and having all these skills because I know he’s going to be in the broadcast class next year, and it gives me hope that we have people like him… to keep the program going because this is something they’re really passionate about, the same way this was something I’m really passionate about,” SENIOR Sydnie Barrett, managing editor of broadcast for The Chatterbox said.

Dominic hopes to learn more about business and marketing as he continues to run Skydro Solutions throughout high school and after graduation. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to “just start.”

“[I tell my friends] they just need to start something and start businesses, because it’s kind of hard to learn a business if you’re not actually running it,” Dominic said.