Derek Semmler dot com - money, motorcycles and cars (with a little bit of everything else)

One of the goals behind this site is to use it as a vehicle to track my progress towards becoming a Dot Com Mogul. While the site has not yet been around for an entire month, I thought I would still post my progress.

• Your income is made from the Interweb - While I do make a little bit of money from the Interweb, I do have an ordinary full-time job as a computer programmer. No BOINK! (See Covino & Rich Dictionary)

• The minimum Internet income level is $10,000 per month (you can not add income from other sources to hit this $10K level) - Uhh, yeah…this is a problem. Maybe if I can move that decimal place over a few notches I would qualify but my Interweb income level is nowhere near this yet. No BOINK!

• You have no jobs outside of the Internet - Another swing and miss. I’m a workin’ man right now and have a journey ahead of me before I reach this goal. No BOINK!

• You have a personal blog with your name as the domain name - Lol, my first success! BOINK!

• Your blog must be updated at least once per week - Looking good on this one as well. BOINK!

• A Google search of your name must be at the #1 spot - I think I got lucky here as I must be the only Derek Semmler on Google. BOINK!

• You must be willing to help dot com mogul wannabes - From email discussions about AdSense integration to helping out with WordPress theme problems, I feel that I am always willing to help out other mogul wannabes. The best part is that I have met some fantastic people. BOINK!

• Give time, money or anything of value to a charitable cause each month - This is a slam dunk as I have four charities that I donate to every month (American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, National Kidney Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation) and I also jumped in to help Stephen Fung with his Favorite For Charity promotion. BOINK!

• Personally help at least one person establish their online presence via a blog or website or help them enhance one they already have every month - Someone that I have been helping with their website is Operation First Response, although my work schedule really limited the time I could devote this month. If you’d like a sneak peek at the new design, check out the work-in-progress. Our soldiers sacrifice so much to help protect our country and I felt the least I can do is offer my services to OFR and cover their cost of hosting the website. BOINK!

After a short month of having this site in operation, I can confidently say that I have satisfied 6 of 9 Dot Com Mogul criteria. Unfortunately, the three items that I am not satisfying right now are probably the most difficult to achieve and I will certainly have my work cut out for me.

In an effort to expand upon my progress towards the first three criteria, I will be expanding this series to include a detailed report on my journey to earn an income from the Interweb.