Tim Jedrek's Website and Blog

Hi there friend! Welcome to my personal webpage. My name is

I’m a pilot that owns a marketing agency in the aviation flight training industry. I enjoy flying and meeting business owners, learning new languages, picking up new skills, and implementing the latest technologies.

Companies and businesses I’ve collab’d with in the past few years

Flying a small plane IFR over Florida

This is my story

Never in 100 Years I Would Imagine Where I am Today

I was sitting in my office inside of the St. Louis ADM flour mill. The year was 2022. The room is dusty. Even though my office was outside of the production area, flour dust always seeped in. A layer of dust coated every surface in the facility. Everyday I wheezed and coughed and questioned why I was putting myself through this. The mold, bugs, and flour dust didn’t treat my body well.

I had tried to start a business to escape the hell I was in. But definitely didn’t have the revenue to go full time and work on the business. A whole decade working in the food industry. From meat processing plants to even artificial food coloring. I eventually landed inside a flour mill. I found myself wheezing away in a dusty flour mill just so I could pay rent. The environment was toxic. Not just physically, but mentally as well. I was the quality manager at the factory and the other managers and the technicians were all depressed. We had a short tempered plant manager that would scream in meetings. No one cared about making the facility a better place. Everyone walked around with a somber face and it was starting to affect me as well. I had to find a way out

Tim Jedrek on the rooftop of a flour mill

On the rooftop of the ADM flour mill wishing I was flying like one of those birds in the sky

The Exit Plan

There were two things I was considering at the time before Right Rudder Marketing came to being. I started pilot training in 2019 to become an airline pilot. At the time I was already in a 6 figure job so I figured an airline career would be a good way to get out of the food industry as there was potential to make even more money than what I was already making. Another option I was considering was getting into software engineering. This was before COVID and all that and I remember hanging out with some friends that were software engineers and they were making a decent salary all in the comforts of their own home. Remote work wasn’t really a thing yet and it was really just limited to jobs like that.

So I started working on both options while I endured the dusty and toxic environment of the flour mill. I was working on my pilot training and I was also learning to code. I’d study programming and taking flight lessons in my free time. I was determined to get out of the food industry and I was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.

My technician’s dusty office at the ADM flour mill

From a Side Gig to a Real Business

On the side I had been building websites and programming for fun since high school. I sold my first website to a restaurant in 2019, then took on interior designers, musicians, lawn-care companies, and other small businesses. But this wasn’t the escape plan I thought it could be. A couple hundred bucks a month was nice but it wasn’t life changing. I needed to find a way to make this a real business that could support me and my family and give me the freedom to do what I wanted to do.

I invested heavily in my education. From taking courses on programming, pilot training, and reading books. One of the books I read was by a man named Josh Nelson. He had talked about growing a marketing agency and how he had built a multi million marketing agency business. I learned that yes websites and software are important, but what really matters is getting customers and revenue. Instead of selling websites and software, I needed to sell results.

Going from Generalist to Aviation

Additionally, in Josh Nelson’s book he talked about the importance of finding a niche. He said that if you try to be everything to everyone, you will be nothing to no one. I realized that I needed to find a niche that I could specialize in and become an expert in. The question then remained as to what niche I should specialize in. Lawn care, interior design, musicians, and other small businesses were all options but quite honestly I didn’t have much interest in any of those niches. I needed to find a work that I was passionate about and something that I could see myself doing for the long term.

Besides looking at existing clients and just going in from that angle, another way to arrive at a niche was to ask yourself where you spent a lot of time and money in. Well, if you’ve been in aviation for any amount of time, you’ll quickly find out it can be an expensive endeavor. But I loved it. And that’s really how Right Rudder Marketing came to be. I had spent a lot of time and money in aviation and I had a passion for it. I realized that I could combine my passion for aviation with my skills in marketing and start a business that could help flight schools grow their student body and get more students into the air.

Looking at my “new to me” Piper Cherokee

So I got to work and started building a new business. I’d work a full time job then come home and work on my business. I’d work on my business until late at night and then get up early the next morning to go to work. It was a grind working 80+ hour weeks but I was determined to make it become a reality. I continued to invest in my education and in my new business. I attended seminars and conferences, read books, and took courses.

My dad and I at the first FSANA event I ever attended and exhibited at

The first big risk was going to FSANA (now FSAI) in 2023. It had cost around $5000 to go and with no revenue from the business yet, it came straight out of my own pocket. But it was the best decision I had ever made. I met so many flight school owners and learned even more about the aviation industry. Most importantly, I landed my first client, Ideal Aviation, from attending the conference. I finally found a business that could be a way out of the factory life. I kept working at the factory while working on my business part time. I landed a few more clients and eventually I was able to quit my full time job and work on my business full time.

Right Rudder Marketing team at FLYIN 2025

Scaling Up the Business and Making an Impact

Quitting my full time job was the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life. I had a steady paycheck and benefits and I was giving all of that up to pursue a dream. Who knows if would even work out. I’d like to say it is. It started slow and I was a one man show. I did everything from sales, marketing, client delivery, and accounting. I stayed consistent and kept learning and growing.

Month after month, year after year, I kept growing the business. I was able to hire and grow a team to help even more flight schools grow their student body and get more students into the air. The picture over here taken last year at our annual FLY-IN meet up doesn’t even do it justice. We’ve since doubled the size of our team and number of partner flight schools. We’re due for a new picture pretty soon. Today we’ve got around 40 partner flight schools we work with to help their marketing and it keeps on growing. Our goal right now is to hit 100 flight schools. I’m pretty confident we can get there in a year or so. The more flight schools we can help, the more students we can get into the air and that’s what really matters.

So Why Are You Here?

Maybe you Googled me, maybe someone sent you here, or maybe you just stumbled in. Either way — welcome. This site is where I share everything I’ve learned and done.

In Thoughts I write about business, aviation, marketing, and life. In Collabs I document every business I’ve worked with — real results, real stories.

If you’re a flight school owner or just want to connect, I’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch