October 18, 2026

The Two Hats

As a self-employed soloist, you are wearing (at least) two different hats:

1. The owner hat
2. The employee hat

Everyone understands the employee hat. That’s the one you’re wearing when you are doing your thing for a paying client.

Lots of people don’t even realize they have an owner hat. That’s the one you’re wearing when you are thinking about (among many other things) the profitability of the business.

You might think that your gross revenue minus your expenses equals your profit, roughly speaking.

But you’d be wrong!

Well, you’d be wrong if you didn’t include your pay as an expense .

Think of it like this...

If you put on your owner hat and hired someone just as good as you to wear the employee hat while you sat on the beach drinking Coronas, how much money would be left over after paying them?

If the answer is “not much,” then the business isn’t very profitable.

Yours,

—J

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