You can find models anywhere, you just have to look.

There are about 3 bazillion colleges in Ohio, which means broke college kids, which means models Not to mention all those nice corn-fed Midwestern boys. There are a couple of small gay adult companies in Ohio that produce their own content, perhaps you can track them down and see if they are interseted in buying content from you.

There's no licensure or regulation per se for adult photographers. You can just set up a DBA with your county or city and then you can legally operate under that name.