As a Man Soweth

Happy Birthday to Maverick Drone Systems! On this day four years ago, I left Verizon Wireless to tread a path for the drone industry. Not knowing much about drones other than they were really cool and could transmit and receive data, as we said at Verizon, "data is the new currency." I knew nothing about the services they could provide, the benefits they would have to civilization and how demanding they would be for users. This industry has moved faster than any other electronics business. I knew mobile devices, I knew wireless technology, I knew how to sell and I know now selling drones is nothing like the ladder. Selling mobile devices was simple because the device never left the palm of your hand. The first units to hit the market successfully were called Palm Treo's and for a reason. Mobile devices were smart but they couldn't fly. They could break, get wet, and you may crack the glass and those are all easy fixes. Drones fly in 3D space, they have flight controllers, sensors, controllers, software, and accessories beyond that of which you will ever see in the wireless industry. I knew I was in for a dramatic change within myself and within an industry that was just beginning to see traction.

After leaving Verizon my objective was new, lead a company. Easier said than done. Going from Account Executive positions my entire life to now becoming a leader in an organization which requires much more than selling has been a daunting task. From the outside looking in it appears easy to do. We see all the dollar signs these top level leaders in large organizations make and think, "I can do that." Well its not that easy. Leading requires much more than selling. As I found out it requires a lot of strategic human resource management and that is the hardest part about this role. This industry has major challenges as it being a drone, it's faced scrutiny from the FAA, civilians, and other business organizations to keep them out of "their" space or confined to certain spaces. The limit to growth has and always will be the ability to articulate what they do, how they work, where to buy, where to get questions answered, where to get trained, tech support, and how to get great customer service. There is more to aircraft than just buying and flying. Being an aircraft it crashes, it has an "N-Number" and is reported to the FAA, it has restrictions, it requires fuel "batteries" and a lot of them, it's expensive, it requires maintenance, it requires training, it requires a license to fly commercially, it demands for upgrades. Knowing all of this starting the company from the outside seems fun and easy to do but the structure in which it needs to be designed and created requires much more thought and leadership in the process.

September 15th is also my birthday which makes it a special day in that the day I left a very successful career with Verizon, I ventured to start a new one of great surprise. The story continues and we have done well leading it. We have consistently turned a profit, we have turned "water into wine" so to speak, we have lead in this industry without selling out, filing for Chapter 11, and we have made it through the mine field thus far.

"Monetizing the sky" has proven to be a lot of work and dedication which requires extreme skill and loyalty.

The Ways

To every man there openeth

A way, and Ways, and a Way.

And the High Soul climbs the

High Way,

And the Low Soul groped the Low,

And in between, on the misty flats,

The rest drift to and fro.

But to every man there openeth

A High Way, and a Low.

And every man decideth

The way his soul shall go.

-John Oxenham