Don, it's not the taxes that'll get ya - but instead, piss-poor bookkeeping.

Lets say, you get $125 for a one-hour NH job. Some places paid more, but an average of $125 was what I charged for jobs within 30 minutes drive time from home. I calculated my overhead for this job at about $20, so therefore, I had a gross profit of $105 - not bad for an hour job.

Now, there's a big difference between gross profit and net profit, the later being how much you were able to stick in your wallet. From the gross profit, I had to look at all those other little expenses that most folks don't think about. Things such as computer ink for printing advertising brochures, postage for mail-outs, business card printing, tax preparation programs, liability insurance, and of course, spares that sit idle in their boxes just in case something breaks down. This is just a partial list.

Direct expenses include the cost of transportation including gas, tolls, tires, batteries and auto maintenance. Then,you have the cost of your basic setup, keyboard, stands, amps, PC, mics, etc... Obviously, the longer you keep your basic setup, the more you get to keep. Fran and I agree on this, he kept that G70 until it grew moss on the north side of the board, while I kept that 3000 until it took on an alien life form, When I gave it to my son, there was not a scratch on it, and I sold the spare to Ed-K. The spare had only been used once and both 3000s were purchased on the same day.

Now, if you are a diligent, meticulous bookkeeper, keep track of every expenditure, and follow the tax codes carefully, utilizing each and every legal write-off, you will likely get to keep about $90 of that $125 you made. However, I highly recommend taking at least 10 percent of that $90 and investing it into an IRA or other retirement account. You should do this for one reason and one reason only - You eventually will get old and not be able to generate income from playing music. I should know! Those 3 retirement accounts I created more than 20 years ago sure make life a lot easier.

Gary