I posted a comment on johnchow.com after he was let out of the hospital, if you’re visiting from that link…Hi!

I’m sorry there’s not more here for you to see. I haven’t updated this blog since September.

It’s not because I have nothing to say…it’s just that I’ve been doing so much since then.

I hope you’ll bookmark me, or visit again in the future. I’ll have some interesting information to share with you.

Plus, I’m sure John Chow will leave me in his will, so years from now I’ll be a big deal.

In the meantime leave a comment and let me know why you should be the one to be left in John Chow’s will.

Okay, I know that this post was supposed to be written about my weaknesses, but I’ll get to that later.

I just wanted to get my thoughts put out there about the current financial climate here in the States. Overall, it’s crappy. I lost my job of 10 years to a bad economy, and the jobs that I’ve been seeing posted in the graphic design field…well, I’m just not sure that they are going to be around a year from now. As far as employment, it’s a scary time.

However, I feel like it’s a good time to become independent. Many of the businesses that I’ve interviewed with so far have not impressed me. As a matter of fact, I’ve actually lost confidence in many of these places when I asked them some basic questions about their goals, and they weren’t able to come up with an answer. Honestly, many of them have come across as complete idiots. I’ve worked for an idiot for years. I don’t want to go back to work for an idiot. Hell, if I go to work for an idiot that idiot is going to be me, damn it!

But, I’ve been thinking about things that I could do to help my financial situation. Mainly, I realize that my quest to find a reliable, livable income online is going to be a tough road, so how can I make it easier on myself? Currently, I live in the Chicago-land area, and it’s expensive. I originally come from central Illinois where the cost of living is much lower. So, I’ve been thinking of relocating. The one downside of moving to central Illinois is there really are not many creative jobs available in the area, unlike Chicago-land. But, as I stated previously, so far those jobs haven’t been of a great selection, and I’m not confident they would have any longevity. So, right now, a relocation has more pros than cons.

I have a feeling this is going to be a hell of a year.

In order to get started on my online empire, I’ve decided to sit down and list some of my strengths and work towards them.

• I can design
  For the last ten years I’ve been an art director. Granted, I’ve been an art director for print, but I’ve also worked on the web (which is another strength). I have a good understanding of what a good design should consist of. I understand that on the web, design means more than just picking a nice color scheme, it must also consider usability. It’s an interactive, not a passive, experience.
• I can write
  Along as being an art director, I also found myself in the unique position of being able to write advertising and marketing copy. This was a great introduction to finding my own voice, and experiment with what worked and what didn’t. Also, when I was in the fifth grade I won the Young Author award for my region for the story ‘The Com 2000 Team’. It was a story about a computer virus that attacked and then defeated by the heroic ‘Com 2000 Team’. Considering that when I was in the fifth grade it was 1985, and that the internet was not a household concept, I was obviously ahead of my time and bordering on genius. My claim at genius status is only supported by the fact that the virus in ‘The Com 2000 Team’ was not what we know as a computer virus today. Today, we know a computer virus as something that will infect your computer with adware and steal your banking information. No, my virus would materialize from the computer screen in the shape of a light bulb with tentacles and a mouth full of sharp, monstrous teeth. And instead of infecting your computer with adware, my virus would bite your fucking head off! Genius.
• I’ve already begun
  While this blog will be documenting many of my tactics that I implement to make money online, I already have a bit of a head start. I have a few content sites up that are being monetized by Adsense, but the income level is paltry. However, while the income from those sites is low the search rankings of each site is pretty high. By running smaller content based sites I have learned a ton about what many new to web design struggle over. So, I have a great base knowledge of websites and what makes them rank in the search engines. Now, I need to apply that knowledge to monetization.

While, not all of my strengths, I believe that those three will be the most important to my success online.

Next, *sigh* my weaknesses.

In beginning this blog I thought it would be important to list my goals that I’d like to achieve in regards to making money online.

1. Make money
   Gee, who knew? Yes, the overall goal of my ventures is to make a sustainable income online. However, please note that I have not stated ‘I want to get batshit rich’. While, I wouldn’t mind being batshit rich, it’s not the overall goal. I would like to achieve an income that will pay the bills, overall that’s the goal. As the blog continues I may actually state how much I would like to make per month, but right now I’m not going to. Because, honestly, I’m not really sure how much I need. My life’s in a little bit of a flux right now and depending on where I end up will determine the overall per month monetary goal. So…to be continued.
2. Learn
   Okay, let’s say that I try all this stuff on how to make money online and I fail miserably. Consider that I am truly doomed in my attempts at grabbing some bucks. Well, if that’s the case and I decide to totally walk away from this attempt; I want to have learned something from this experience. That learning process could range from learning a real world skill, like learning a programming language or it could mean learning more about me and what more overall goals in life are. What I don’t want is to leave the online world a bitter angry person. I want to make money online and be a bitter angry person.
3. Be better
   This certainly relates to my last stated goal, but when I say ‘be better’ here’s what I mean. I’m coming into this experience with some skills that I’m proud of. I am an award winning art director. However, as the years have passed I have become more of a manager than a production designer. In those years I’ve become great at budgeting and managing money, but my design and creative skills have suffered. I want this experience to strengthen the creative skills I’m bringing to this venture. I want to be a better writer, designer and illustrator. This is the goal that I’m the most excited of seeing how I achieve it in the months and years following.

That’s it for now. I’m sure as time goes on this list of goals will transform to reflect my current situation. Goals may be added or dropped, I’m excited to find out what happens.

Traditional first post here.

Well, this is going to chronicle my efforts to make some money online.

I’ll tell you a little about me, but I’ll get into more detail in future posts. I was employed as an art director for a Chicago area newspaper. In that position I lead the look, branding, and advertising for that paper. But, after almost 10 year history, as art director, the paper folded, and I was out of a job. So, I thought I’d try to bring some of my skills that I’ve traditionally used in print and see if they would transfer to the online world.

I’ve had some experience in building websites. I have a few running now. Each has made a little money, but nothing exceptional. So, I know and see the potential for making money online. I just need to find what methods are going to be right for me, and I hope to chronicle them on this blog, so that you may apply them to your own efforts.

As you can see, I’m a bit pessimistic naming my site “I’m Doomed”. But, the name also reflects my gallows sense of humor, and I thought it would be clever to actually brand my blog, rather than giving it my name.

As a matter of fact, one of the big bloggers, John Chow, has actually stated that if he had to do it over again he wouldn’t have used his name, he would have used a brand-able name. So, I’m taking that piece of advice.

I’m doomed.