Travel Consulting - Award/Booking/Planning - What am I forgetting?

Not sure where to really start, I'm pretty big into travel and finding the best deals for other people and essentially planning their trips and giving recommendations on what to do at locations (airlines, hotels, transportation, etc). I've got a little bit of a following so I decided to (possibly) start a travel booking company. This would only be for passive income and I have a full time job. I would also like to get into booking travel for businesses (one has already approached me with 10 employees that take 100+ trips a year).

I have the time, effort, and know-how to make this a successful side job, but it just seems to good too be true.

I have discussed this with a few people that do just the award travel side and they said that anytime you get into cash bookings it becomes a gray area. I live in Iowa and looking at the SoS website, it says I do not need to have a certificate but need to be registered with the state with some requirements and have looked into E&O insurance. I'm not trying to be a "travel agent" but rather consulting (arguably the same thing).

Anyone in the business that can point me in the right direction? A friend's mom is in the Travel Planner's International but that seems more like a MLM thing, and while she has been very successful with it, she's also been doing it for 25-30 years.

Thanks in advance!