Passion and Drive in Business: This is Flight

You frequently hear that you must have the passion for something and interest in it to succeed, as well as to never give up. Now, we can sit here and repeat that over and over again as well as some well known quotes by business idols such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or we can give you an example on a much more recent and smaller scale.
This is Flight is an aviation based website, which provides frequent reports on events in the aviation world. Its owner, Mr Adam Landau is someone who has had an interest in aviation and business for years, and subsequently combined these to to make This is Flight. Using his passion for aviation as his drive to make him excel in the business world, This is Flight attracts many clients from around the world.

To tell you more about the business itself, we managed to get an up close and exclusive interview with Mr. Landau himself!

What is This is Flight all about?

This is Flight is a resource for aviation enthusiasts, producers and editors. Primarily we report for aviation magazines – you hay have seen our Changi Airport article in Airports of the World at the beginning of the year, and we are now writing for Airliner World and AirForces Monthly. More recently, we began making event previews and reports on our website, www.thisisflight.net, which appeal to the casual enthusiast and members of the public. We also make videos and in the next year or so we’re looking to produce our first DVDs, including an A320 cockpit DVD filmed in a flight simulator and a DVD showcasing the highlights from the year’s airshows. Our aim is to be able to provide useful information for anyone interested in aviation and to provide an accurate and reliable journalism service for our clients.

How did it start out?

I suppose you could say This is Flight actually started out quite a few years ago when I started making nature documentaries with a friend. He has since moved to the UK and I changed the focus to aviation. We only started taking things really seriously late last year when we wrote our first articles and opened the website.

What do you believe is the most difficult part of being an unincorporated business as such?

The most difficult thing for me is raising money. I think it’s fair to say that journalism isn’t a very profitable business and having just upgraded our camera kit I don’t have much left for anything else, hence for now many of the events we attend are local ones covered by myself or a correspondent or tie in with family holidays! The other problem is the massive investment required to start a project. As I’ve mentioned I’m working towards an A320 simulator DVD. It’s something I’m taking very seriously, and I’m looking to hire several professional quality film cameras as well as Europe’s most advanced flight simulator. Then I need to get several hundred discs burned and packaged before getting a single customer. I am confident that the product can make a profit but it’s the initial investment that may end up killing it. Airshow DVDs are easier as once you have a camera they don’t require a huge amount of investment, but the big problem is that most shows don’t allow commercial use of any material obtained as a result of entering the show site, so even if I visit ten shows a year I am seriously limited as to what footage I can actually use.

As you are an unincorporated partnership, does This is Flight hold have any roots outside Singapore?

Yes, our resident technical expert (that's not his official title!), who runs many aspects of the website is based in the UK. He is also going to start reporting for us at some UK events. The friend who I originally started the business with now lives in the UK but doesn’t play a part in running the business.

What is your clientele like?

Well, most of my clients are aviation magazines. Usually I ask them if they are interested in an article and they say yes or no and lay down some guidelines for what they’d like included, but once or twice I’ve been approached and asked to write something. I’ve also written for another aviation website and provided information for several individuals. We’re very new and haven’t done a huge amount yet, so we should be dealing with more people soon.

Do you have any words of wisdom for future Entrepreneurs?

What I learned is that there’s nothing to loose from asking. You can ask for a press pass to an event and if the answer is “no,” you don’t loose anything! The same goes for articles – the very first article I wrote was the result of an email beginning with “Dear Airports of the World, would you be interested in an article about growth and Changi Airport” (or something like that). The answer was yes, and look where that got me! The other really important thing is not to give up, even if the answer is no. There’s no harm in asking why, and you can gain valuable information for the future. Besides, there’s nearly always another way; the first time I tried to make a DVD it was in a 737 simulator. Boeing said they refused to license such a product, but rather than give up I found an A320 simulator, and hence that idea began. There’s nearly always an alternative, it’s just a question of being able to find it.

We would like to thank Mr. Adam Landau for giving us this opportunity.

The passion and drive, as well as the entrepreneurial spirit to go with it has made This is Flight a sure competitor for the future! The honesty and integrity will only get them higher.

Well that was ThisisFlight.net and their Owner, Mr. Adam Landau telling us about their business.

Thank you and stay tuned!