What's all the buzz? Local drone pilot turns fun into a way to help businesses
- Chuck Thompson
- Jul 24
- 6 min read
Drones have been a fun, popular phenomenon for the public for at least the past 10 years. They offer a way for us to see festivals from a bird’s-eye-view, a safe way to look at our roof that might be in need of repair, and a fun experience watching them fly through obstacles, across yards, through homes and businesses.
However, it’s the person behind the drone – their creative use of the fun, buzzing, tool that makes these enjoyable videos happen.
Jimmy Boheler, owner and operator of JB Drone Solutions, is one of those creatives behind the drone.
Before Boheler’s drone business took flight, he kept his focus on the ground, working 18 years in the restaurant business, spending three of those years as a restaurant owner.
“You're married to a restaurant if you own it,” explained Boheler. “I had no time. So, I went into corporate America, and then I got my weekends back to spend with my family and friends, which I loved – but I had a boss.”
“Me and bosses don't get along,” he noted.
One fateful day seven years ago, Boheler stood up from his cubical, walked up to his boss and, as he put it, “fired” her.
I didn’t know what I was going to do yet, but I wasn't going back there,” he said.
His boss told him that he would be back, soon.
“I never went back,” he chuckled. “And then I just started helping business owners with printing, with digital websites, with social media.”
When Covid hit, Boheler said he started doing a lot of things online to help business owners across the country.
Then, the moment happened –
His passion for drone flight and videography began after a raging fire near Kings Mountain.
In December of 2024, a wildfire broke out on Crowders Mountain. Engulfing the side of the mountain, the fire lit up the night sky with a fearful orange glow.
“A buddy of mine grabbed his uncle's drone,” said Boheler. “He didn't even have a license. He went up, flew around, taking pictures, and I was thinking, ‘Man, that's really cool.’”
Another spark ignited that night – in Boheler’s entrepreneurial mind.
“I never had a drone and I had never flown one,” he explained. “I knew what they were, but had never given them much thought. “I got really excited about it and thought, well, if nobody else is doing it in our area, I would really love doing that.”
With one eye on the horizon, Boheler took his business knowledge and combined that with drone flying – and thus, JB Drone Solutions was born.
He was licensed before he owned his first drone, practicing with a friend’s drone, and learning all he could about the topic online.
“I went to YouTube University and started just studying about drones. How they work. Everything. And then a friend showed me how to fly them inside, through restaurants, places like that – and that’s how I began making videos for small businesses.”
After a two-week course, a 60-question multiple choice test and hundreds of hours of practicing he was ready for lift-off.
Like any small business start-up, Boheler needed a portfolio, so he helped a few friends, by making them a video in exchange for being able to use it to advertise himself and show off his talent.
Things suddenly began to take-off.
He said he watched a video on YouTube of a gentleman flying a drone through a hotel and realized that you could do the same for a small business – but it would require a lot more practicing, so he didn’t accidentally hit anything while flying around inside people’s homes and businesses.
He said the endless hours of practicing makes all the difference.
“I’ll give an example, I guess I can say Kyle Larson,” he noted. “Kyle Larson’s got more wheel time than most of the other drivers out there, so the only way that I can fly through a business is if I had more air time than any other person in this area and so that took practice and flying faster, and slower, trying not to hit anything.”
“I set up a make-shift drone obstacle course to practice flying.” Boheler explained. “I went to Hanna Park and spent a lot of time there just perfecting the craft – learning how to fly a drone through tight spaces.”
Boheler and his company, JB Drone Solutions, began flying high – both figuratively and literally.
The business began flying in, keeping Boheler busy, and giving him the opportunity to try new things with his drones and help small businesses in the process.
“Helping small businesses really means a lot to me,” said Boheler. “Not only do I get to fly drones, but also create something for a client that can help them increase their business from a unique perspective of flying a drone around and through their business, making a video that’s fun to watch and catches the eyes of anyone that comes across their drone video.”
Boheler said a rewarding part of being a drone videographer is the reaction of the client when they see their own video.
One of his early promotional videos for a client was a computer repair shop in Kings Mountain.
“I took my drone and flew from the highway, put that location on there, and flew through his building. Now, customers know where he's at. They see it on the video – the location – and say ‘Oh, I know where that is!’ and it’s made a difference.”
Boheler is adamant that website and social media videos make a difference in marketing, noting, it’s beneficial for businesses to use his services, “Sixty-six percent of people stop (scrolling) when they see a video on social media. They literally just stop and watch it,” said Boheler. “But you've got to capture them – and that aerial captures their attention; it’s something they've usually not seen, especially in a business.”
He continued, “They’re seeing an angle they're not they're not familiar with, they like seeing places from above.”
Boheler recommends businesses put it on their websites, use it in advertising elsewhere, and share it across social media.
“Share, share, share,” he reiterated. “You cannot post my video one time and expect it work you've got to do this three, four, or five times a week and share it and then there's also a button you can push called boosting, if you're a Facebook business page, and I always ask them do you have a Facebook business page – are you using that business page? Are you posting on it, because this is a prime place you. Put it on a YouTube channel; people watch videos on YouTube.”
From real estate, roofing, landscaping, local government, retail shops, and more, Boheler’s JB Drone Solutions has almost done it all.
“I had a company reach out to me from New Jersey that owns an apartment building here that wanted me to fly the drone over the roof so they could check out the structure to see if any repairs were needed,” Boheler said. “It’s becoming quite common in business (to use drones).”
As for the future of drone use, he said the sky is the limit.
“I think farming will be affected by drones,” he noted. “Tractors are going away. There will be drones replacing tractors. Why? Because of the accuracy.”
Boheler continued, “The time required is less, and you can literally program it into it and the drone will fly over and do all the agriculture work – the fertilizer and all that.
He also said package delivery will pick up in pace soon.
“It's coming; in fact – it’s here. I have a buddy that was hired by Amazon to deliver with drones.”
Boheler said one of the benefits of drone video is creating 4K videography that stands out.
And the biggest challenges are business owners not understanding why they need a drone video.
“I think every business owner needs a video. If they're not, they're missing out. If you're not posting on Facebook, and if you're not posting on any social media – If you've got something against social media, you're losing money. You're losing money right now.”
Boheler added, “So the challenge would be — my challenge would be – how can I get more business? I want more businesses. I want to help more people and help them grow their business with something they've never even probably tried in their own business.”
Boheler, who has worked on projects in Columbia and Myrtle Beach South Carolina, has plans to grow his business and expand to several other states for work.
How far would he go?
“I got a car and it's got gas,” he said. “Let's go. I love what I do.”
“If a business is doing less than one million in sales, they need to talk to me. Because I want to help them get them to a million.”
Boheler is very active on social media, he’s not hard to get in touch with, even if sometimes he’s a little busy to respond right away. You can reach him on Facebook at JB Drone Solutions, TikTok, Instagram, and email, at jimmy@jbdronesolutions.com.
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Chuck Thompson is a reporter for The Shelby Independent.
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