If you are going to earn with adsense you need ALOT of traffic to your site. You need to watch what market you choose in building your site cause with adsense you usually get paid pennies.
Look at what Jeramey Shoemoney made .. http://www.shoemoney.com/2007/11/04/the-adsense-check-for-13299497#.
I would say when you have a lot of traffic and you really know your source of traffic and on what people usually click then I would say that you would direct your traffic to earn a lot of money. I have watched a course on affiliate marketing by the founder of "shoemoney " and he make A LOT of money. He once got a new BMW jeep (I think X3) brand new as a bonus from one company. But this man is a genius.
10k is a start but it also depends on where you position your adsense. (above the fold, on the bottom, side ect).. Color of your text could play a part too..