Your fear is backwards. If you were claiming this as hobby income, I would be more concerned with the IRS labeling it as self-employment business income. Not the other way around.
Basically, if your "intent" is to make a profit, then what you have is a business and not a hobby. Weather you actually make a profit or not doesn't matter. It's your "intent" that matters.
Generally speaking, the IRS does not expect a newly formed business to actually make a taxable profit in the first three years. That does not mean that you must make a profit in the 4th year either. I've known businesses to go as long as 5 years before actually making a taxable profit in the 6th year.
Where flags are raised is when you have a business for 3 plus years that never makes a profit and operates at a loss, and you sell the business at a gain. Then you use the deferred losses to offset the taxability of the gains on the sale. When such flags are raised that does not insinuate you've done anything wrong either. It just "raises eyebrows" and it's possible you could be asked to "prove your intent". Easy to do if making a profit really was your intent.
