Thinking about trying to make some money with my photography

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I'm contemplating trying to become a semi-professional photographer. By "semi-professional" I just mean getting paid to do portraits and stuff like that. I don't think I'm good enough to do anything like weddings yet where I'm supposed to "capture the emotions" of the event.

I'm upgrading my camera in a couple months, so I'll have pretty good equipment (I have the entry level Nikon D3100 with the kit lens, and I'm getting a D7100 with a Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 lens) I just need some more lighting equipment for portraits and such.

I feel like photography is really my only interest that I feel that I could turn into a career! I kinda feel like a young Hank from the show Parenthood! lol

That's very competitve area. Really. My friend's hobby is just like what you going to do - and he told me that the most important is practice. 6,8,12 hours a day when possible, learning photoshop (no good photos are now done without it) and again practicing. His photos are sometimes awesome, like in galleries. And equipment prices... damn, his photocamera with all stuff costs much more than my car.

Here's some of my photos. https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/107033531 ... 669780576/

Your photo's aren't too bad. Sadly, the field is really really competitive. Take a look at microstock websites. They are selling good photos at a dime a dozen.
The portrait-bit could work better, though.
I learned to retouch photos professionally, although I'm not working in that area anymore, but I do some retouching for friends once in a while, as a favour.
And I am usually appalled by what they paid good money for.
If you honestly just told your client to comb her hair before you take the picture, you could already be above average as a portrait-photographer.

Nevertheless, I often spend saturday afternoons on these photos. You know, If I charged for it... no one would pay it. So learn your photoshop, and remember that expensive equipment will only make a visible difference if you know how to really handle it.
Usually, semi-pro photographers don't, so better invest your money in some books on photography before running out to buy a new lens priced at a month's salary.

But if you do the reading, and know what you can and can't fix in photoshop, you can try make some money off it. Better not plan on quitting your day-job anytime soon, though.
Take care.