You're welcome to disagree.
And although I wouldnt disagree with your baby gear analogy, if you were doing it on an ongoing basis, and marketing it as a business with a proper business name and website, then I think you would be in a business. If you have a website offering services and offering them for sale on an ongoing basis, then you will generally find, that you would be presenting yourself as "in business". But back to the actual topic, I was of course specifically referring to the statement that I made made earlier, and before it is quoted out of context again, it was originally posted in response to Kiwi's first reply to this topic, that he was just a hobbyist and none of this applied to him, and I would suggest you read it all before quoting out of context, and yes I am in particular taking him as an example, and referring to his website, a company name, and yes an ABN number - not really representing a hobbyist - surely ?
http://www.peakactionimages.com/
Its nothing personal btw as I know Darren reasonably well. But I cant agree with his comments, where he would appear to be suggesting that he's just a hobbyist, when I read his website and note that he's the official photographer for Qld Corporate Games, that he has a price list listed, that he has a very respectable hourly rate, etc, etc, etc, etc. I have no problem with it, in fact bloody good luck to him; I just dont think thats a hobbyist - just my opinion. This is not what I would expect someone to have when suggesting that a hobbyist, does not require to follow any suggested calculations on working out their hourly rates, and that any reference to declaring income is deemed unnecessary.
Perhaps its easier to dispense with numerous additional analogies and stick to the original topic though ?
And FWIW I've not said that hobbyists are taking work from pros. In fact I dont believe anyone has said that. What I probably did say is that its fairly easy to do things at a knock down price if you're not having to put it into a proper economic business situation. Which is how I started as well. The post offered by Rick is meant to be of some help. Which is what I'm supporting