I too have been doing portraits here & there for family & friends & then decided that I really love it & want to do it for money. I am only doing it part time right now & am not charging a whole lot to do it, but even a little bit of money makes you feel like you're not doing it for nothing. I set up a price list (again, charging a little over what I'm paying for them-about double, sometimes triple the price to pay for the print) & clearly outline the costs in the price sheet. At the top of the price sheet I put that I charge $65 for a 2 hour "senior" session & $50 for a 1 hour family session. At the bottom I state that all sitting fees are due at the time of the session & that when they place an order they have to pay at least half up front for the cost of the prints & the remainder is due when they receive them. I have put the word out to my family & friends in a nice way to let them know that I am trying to build a business & if they or anyone they know is interested in a price sheet to email or call me. I had some business cards made up with some of the pictures on it that I have taken. Also I have set up a Facebook page for my business & put the word out that way. A lot of people didn't know I was photographing until then. It has gotten me some business. But, make sure if you do that to put a copyright mark on them before you upload them to Facebook. Also check out a site called
www.photoreflect.com . You can use it to display proofs for your clients & they can share them with friends, but cannot download from there. They also can place orders from you from that site. I am not making a huge amount of money, but keep my costs down by not printing proofs & just displaying them online. Also it gets my name out there & people are lured in by the great prices & then later after I have more clients then I can raise prices. Good luck with starting your business.