Depends.

If you take your kid up and fly over the lake ... if you relieve your stress flying gentlemen's aerobatics in a Citabria ... ?

The FAA also permits an exemption for those who are performing flying incidental to their business, but not holding forth as commercial pilots. In other words, there is a distinction between a commercial pilot flying an employee to a meeting for compensation and the employee flying himself to a meeting.

The hinge point is the murky area of what is a "commercial operation" ? My semi informed best guess is that a pilot would be prohibited from carrying passengers or cargo in any form. I'm even careful carrying parts, salvage, or consultants. Usually those sort of hings go on FedEx really well and have the advantage of not leaving greasy spots on the interior