From Richard Boardman

Google Maps UK and Google Local UK

(It’s not just for Americans anymore)

Blogging has brought me a great number of benefits, I’ve met great people, travelled across the globe, got onto the radio and in the newspapers and has generally been a good thing.

But I want more… 

Below is a wish list of things I have been thinking about recently, if you want to help out with any of it, I’m very easy to contact.  Some of this is going to happen, some is ego-stroking, and some is completely out of the question.

But if you don’t ask…you don’t get…

• Start Podcasting – Actually this is an easy one and will start soon, I have the infrastructure in place, I just need to create the actual podcast.  Why do I want to do this?  Well, this blog started just because I want to play with the technology – so this is a natural progression.
• Get paid – You know what would be nice?  If the LAS paid me to blog,  £1, or even a penny, a year.  Then I could put “professional blogger” on my business card.
• Start a Web-comic – I have no artistic skills at all, so while I think I could write a web-comic, I sure as hell know that I couldn’t draw one.  Any artists out there able to draw to a script?  The format is negotiable but I’m thinking something like Megatokyo or Questionable Content.  (an ongoing story split into stand alone strips).
• Use my powers for good – Could I leverage the people who read this blog into donating for charity?  More likely, could I persuade you to sponsor me to do something daft or potentially life-threatening for charity?  Imagine if everyone of my 7,000+ readers donated £1 ($2) – think what that could get a deserving charity.  It’d make an interesting post…
• Write the Book of the Website – I’ve been thinking about this for ages, but I haven’t had the motivation to strip the text from the site and turn it into something book-like.  Am I able to write to such a different format?  How would I transform the text here into something new and interesting?  Even if no publisher wants to look at it, self publishing isn’t that high risk an option these days.
• Get more employees blogging online– I’d like my “How to blog without losing your job” out to more people – then we could get more employee orientated blogs.  I don’t know about you, but I love reading about other peoples jobs.
• Expand The Brand – I’ve been thinking about starting another blog for material that doesn’t really fit the ambulance theme of this site.  I’ve got a couple of ideas, but need the motivation to do this.  Well…motivation and time.
• Find a way to make money from this blog – GoogleAds?  Paypal Donation? Merchandise?  Why do I want to make money?  Because I’m greedy and money is good.  But don’t worry, nothing will change the content of this blog.  (And I don’t think I could get away with doing this).
• Newspaper column – I’m not talking about anything ‘National’ here (although that would be nice), but a weekly piece in a local paper, about the ambulance side, or from the blogging side of my experiences.  Wouldn’t you be interested in reading about local health concerns in your weekly newspaper?  Or is there a paper out there who needs an Internet maven?
• Do something ‘Creative’ – Something fun that doesn’t necessarily have much to do with writing.  Video, film, music – even writing about them would be a good thing to do.  Is there something other than traditional ‘media’ that I could do?  It’s a fairly nebulous feeling I have about this.  Coupled with a lack of talent, this is a hard one to be concrete about.
• Get somewhere nice to live – The council are moving me to another flat, so far it’s looking like I’ll end up moving to a smaller place in a worse location.  Any millionaires out there want to give me £200,000 so I can buy a place?
• TV – Any TV producers want to interview me about blogging, ambulancing, or blogging about work?  I know I’m not that pretty, but I think I could pull it off.
• Talking – Anyone running a conference where a blogging ambulance bloke could do a presentation?  Do you need someone who knows all about getting your employee blog accepted by your workplace?  It’d be an excuse to use the ‘talk in front of a load of easily bored people’ skills that I learned when I was teaching 9 year old children.  Preferably a conference somewhere warm – like Florida.  I’d need my travel expenses paid though.
• A.N.Other – Anything interesting that you think I should/could be doing?  Try and keep it clean…

I think that the above list is enough begging for one day.