RAW

What!!!!!?

Raw files on the server? what the heck for.?

You can batch process raw files to jpeg from the bridge and then upload them for others to view. You don't do that?

I see, interesting, so, hard drives, discs and an offline server to store or backup files.
You shouldn't have any problems retrieving files.
How long do you keep client's files?

Ok, I shouldn't have promised a star, how about a clapping yellow guy?     There ya go. 

I want to add something to what Mike said, he pointed out that the differences between moms with cameras and pros are education and experience.  I am going to add talent.  Which I think can trump the other two, really.  If you have the eye for it all it takes is how to learn to use a camera and a bunch of practice (I guess that is gaining education and experience... oops).  My point is that your education doesn't have to be formal or "accredited", just get it.

And I want to know how if it is really true that starting a photography business has a low start up cost why I have spent so much money? 
There's the camera, lens, flash, flash bracket, computer, software (Photoshop, accounting program, etc), storage (memory cards, external hard drives, internet service, website, business license, advertising, tripod, more lenses, reflectors, samples (albums, prints, porfolio), business cards, insurance, fees for the business checking account, batteries, phone service, etc.
And that's not including anything for a studio!  Now I understand that there is no mass inventory to buy and that the equipment is cheap compared to other businesses, but starting a real business the right way isn't just pocket change.

I am verbose today

Maybe that didn't come out right 

I don't mean that it is cheap to start, especially if you're starting your business right.  It's that not everybody will spend as much money to start selling their services as a photographer as other businesses might.

Compare it to starting a restaurant.  Either way you're going to need to save up living expenses while you build up your business, assuming you're doing it right.  But with a restaurant you'd need to deal with stoves, employees, a lease, permits, food, etc.  Presumably many people that start calling themselves a professional photographer have a camera and a handful of business cards.  I'm not saying that's the right way to do it.  But there are a lot of people selling their services as a photographer who start that way.

And then you have businesses like accounting that take years of formal schooling.  And although photography should have some sort of instructional period, many people don't start out that way. 

What y'all are talking about is starting up a photography business that has a better chance of being successful because you're starting it like a business instead of as a way to make a few extra bucks with your hobby. 

And this quote is a perfect example.  How many photographers out there do you think hung out their shingle with nothing more than a digital camera and a pirated copy of Photoshop?  Your list includes things meant to start a business instead of getting your friends to pay you 20 bucks for pictures of their kids. 

Ah, Ryan, we know what you meant.  I know plenty of photographers with a camera and some editing software (pirated photoshop would be a step up) that charge a fee, some comparable to mine (grrrr).

Corey, I think a CF card would actually be faster.  Is your Sony stick thing the same thing you can plug into your tv or printer directly if it is Sony and compatable?  I was looking at Best Buy for a tv back when HD was new and the salesman was trying to show me the Sony and he goes "and if you buy a sony camera you have these neat little memory sticks you can plug in and see the pictures you just took".  I didn't tell him I wasn't about to buy a new camera after just buying a lens for my Canon. 

get a fast (I have an 80x and a 120x and can only tell a slight difference between them) CF card. A fast 1 or 2 gig card is better than a slow 4 gig especially if you only take 500megs or so on the average shoot.