Cat Walk NYC

You need to speak with the Small Business Administration because NY has so many different rules, regulations and licensing requirements for talent agencies. There are laws regarding how much commission you can charge, how you need to employ your models, what sort of insurance you need to have, special requirements for models under age 16, etc, etc.

I worked for a large agency and we had an entire legal department just dealing with all of the state regulations because they change all the time.

Your first step is becoming licensed as a talent agent in NY State as well as an employment agency in NY City which has its own requirements

I seriously would not consider starting a modeling agency in this economic climate. Model bookings are down 40-50% even at top agencies as magazines are closing, advertisers are cutting down on new campaigns, and designers keep pulling out of NY Fashion Week. A number of well-known NY agencies like Karin have closed because the market is already over-saturated with agencies and there is not enough work to support them all. There are rumors that two of the top 10 agencies are going to merge because both are experiencing such severe losses that they cannot continue without a partnership.