Though confined to a power wheelchair, Kraig Mitchell perceives the world from on high, zooming up to the clouds and back down through open doors.
Far from a fleeting hobby, he even gets paid to do it.
Living with muscular dystrophy, the Cranston resident who founded Drone Ability Inc. in 2019 never thought his passion for drones and quadcopters could eventually pay the bills. It was only a diverting activity that allowed him to go places, albeit remotely, that were inconceivable to someone in his position only a few years before.
It was in a Las Vegas Radio Shack in 2014 where he first encountered a drone, small and rudimentary by current standards.
Mitchell had been an avid athlete throughout his teens and 20s. But one by one the activities he enjoyed in his youth – baseball and billiards among them – were taken away.
For a while, he satisfied a thirst for action by racing cars, the love of which he credits for his transition to flying drones.
“I’ve always needed to do something,” he said. “And it was like all that stuff came back. The freedom and independence.”
The business he now runs full time began with a single gig for a real estate agent who needed some impressive footage of a property he had listed. Mitchell’s end-product was a success.
Later, on a job for a sports facility, Mitchell gave his client a Hitchcockian tour of the entire building with a freestyle drone, starting outside and then leading the viewer inside.
“I did it in one take,” he said. “No cuts, no breaks.”
Adding the new drones to his repertoire, equipped with virtual reality goggles that allow the user to experience the images in real time, was when things began to take off.
A chance encounter with a fellow drone enthusiast who had received a referral from Mitchell connected him to Sue Babin, project director for the R.I. Developmental Disabilities Council’s Self Employment Project, in turn leading to Mitchell enrolling in business development classes and later receiving a grant to purchase computer equipment.
The eight-week course helped sharpen his business acumen, Mitchell said, not only with bookkeeping and marketing but also honing his “elevator pitch.”
Meanwhile, the jobs have increased, but Mitchell is still laboring to break even. Revenues have increased as newly satisfied customers spread by word of mouth. He had to take on some debt, but “money makes money,” he said.
“I’m right there. Soon we will be turning [from red] to black,” he said. “It’s taken a little longer than I thought. I’m keeping it slow and steady.”
In addition to weddings, aerial property flyovers and hard-to-reach equipment inspections, another service in growing demand is footage capturing the progress of construction sites, which has become Mitchell’s favorite. He once livestreamed a Johnston worksite to a financier in Florida.
“It’s fun watching things come together,” he said.
Mitchell credits his partner and caretaker, Alaina, with helping him build his enterprise. After many years, they now see profitability on the horizon.
And Mitchell has more ideas to keep him busy, such as expanding Drone Ability to providing elderly clients gazes at the sorts of vistas he experiences every day.
And then there is his 15-year-old son who lives with his mother in Seattle and is planning a trip back east this summer.
“I can show him what’s possible,” Mitchell said. “How [drones] can change your narrative and perspective. I may not be able to walk with you, but I can take you on a virtual ride.”
OWNER: Kraig Mitchell
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Drone photo and video services
LOCATION: 43 Overland Ave., Cranston
EMPLOYEES: Two
YEAR FOUNDED: 2019
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
