Hi! I'm Jerry Banfield!

I appreciate you visiting JerryBanfield.com and hope I can get to know you better! I’ve put a lot of work into getting you here, and I want to give you as much as I think you can handle while you’re here.If you have no idea who I am and just wandered in, let me start by introducing myself. I’m an author, speaker, and coach in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is a fairly recent shift for me, because for most of the last decade I worked full-time as a content creator — a YouTuber, Facebook Gaming partner, top-10 Udemy instructor, cryptocurrency educator, musician, and more.Before that, I grew up with a mother who retired as a colonel in the Army and a father who raised us while she was at work. After college at the University of South Carolina, I worked as a corrections officer and police officer before I enrolled at the University of South Florida in Tampa where I obtained a master’s degree in criminology in 2012. I started my first YouTube channel in 2011 and made my first million dollars online working from home with no employees by 2016. More about that in a minute!What excites me most right now is beginning massage school at the Sarasota School of Massage Therapy on September 8, 2025. Once I’m licensed in April 2026, I plan to offer a combined mind-body coaching and massage — a blend of bodywork and deeply supportive conversation. Think of it as a mixture of massage, life coaching, relaxation, and great friendship, all in one.Over the last decade, I’ve received exactly this kind of integrated care, and it’s been crucial for me in staying sober. My sobriety date is April 22, 2014, and I still attend five AA meetings a week — partly to help others stay sober, and partly to keep myself grounded and mindful of where I came from. The combination of physical healing and open conversation has supported me through some of the hardest parts of my recovery, and I want to make that available for others once I'm finished with SSMT and receive my license to practice massage. Until then, I will continue helping with marketing especially with consulting and building websites. You can text me if you are local in St. Pete and would like assistance with marketing or life coaching at 727-339-0333.

Books I’ve Written for You

Content creation is my primary passion and books are my number one outlet now. While technically I have published 20 books on Amazon, there are 2 that I think are really worth reading and I intend to start publishing a new book every month or so going forward. I currently have two new titles in progress: I Was Famous on the Internet and Author in St. Petersburg, Florida. Both will be published soon. If you’d like to be notified when I publish new books, you can text me at 727-339-0333 and say you’d like book updates, or you can join my email list here.The two books I wrote years ago that are still awesome are:- Speaker Meeting 2017 — A 12-hour audiobook or 600-page book that tells the raw, unfiltered story of my life in addiction and recovery. It includes alcoholism, sex addiction, gambling, video game struggles, money problems, and my first three years of sobriety. It’s graphic, it’s honest, and it’s meant for adults who can handle looking into the darker parts of life. You can read here on Amazon or listen on Audible for the best experience.
- Officer Banfield — A book that focuses on my years in law enforcement, including time in corrections, mental health, and as a campus police officer at the University of South Carolina. It includes serious stories, some dark humor, and even a touch of bad romance. You can read here on Amazon or listen on AudibleThese two books give you a sense of where I’ve come from. One shows the depths of addiction and the fight for recovery; the other shows what it was like to serve as an officer in complex environments. Together, they frame a big part of my journey.

I Was Famous on the Internet

The part of my story most people seem to be interested in is how I was “famous on the internet.” I’ll give you a preview here, and if you want the full story, it will be in my upcoming book I Was Famous on the Internet. If you’d like to be notified when it’s released, you can text me at 727-339-0333 and say you’d like book updates, or you can join my email list here.So how famous was I, really? Altogether, my videos, ads, blogs, podcasts, and other content were shown to people more than a billion times. In technical terms, that means more than a billion impressions, but on today’s platforms like TikTok or Facebook Reels, that would count as more than a billion views.On YouTube alone, my videos were shown hundreds of millions of times in homepages and search results. That resulted in around 40 million views with an average watch time of more than five minutes per view — which adds up to hundreds of millions of minutes watched.On Facebook, I was one of the top 20 Facebook Gaming partners in 2021 and 2022. On Udemy, I was one of the top 10 instructors by sales in 2015 and 2016.I’ve been famous enough to go viral. I’ve also been banned and canceled multiple times — because I knew what I was “supposed” to say and refused to do it. What I discovered is that almost everything online functions like the movie The Matrix. It’s designed to get you to think a certain way, behave a certain way, and spend your energy in ways that benefit the system. If you expose holes in that system or tell truths people don’t want to hear, the algorithms won’t push you and the audiences won’t support you either.I saw this clearly in my work around cryptocurrency. If I hyped coins I knew were trash, my videos got views. If I said they were going up — even when the whole thing was based on lies, bribes, and scams — people wanted to hear it. When I shared what I consider to be the one real breakthrough technology, Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), hardly anyone cared. People told me directly, “We don't care about the technology. Just tell us which coins to buy for a quick 10x.” When I suggested that we work together to support the best technology and the largest research team at DFINITY, hardly anyone wanted to hear it.It was the same story in gaming. If I played the “right” video games — the ones the algorithms, bots, and communities were set up to promote — I’d get tons of views. If I played something else, almost nobody would watch. Even worse, most of the top gamers I knew cheated at Call of Duty Warzone and other competitive battle royale games. Meanwhile, the content platforms turned a blind eye to the cheating even when creators were caught in the act repeatedly. Even better, the game developers were hesitant to release anti-cheating updates because they seemed to know that many of the "pro" players would be impacted.Teaching online was the same story. The top instructors consistently cheated and/or released misleading courses that fooled students into buying them. For example, one course showing how to make money on YouTube was based on the instructor's claims that they were making thousands of dollars a month from a faceless channel. The truth was they were stealing content, showed no real proof of income, and showed no proof they even were running the channel themselves. Meanwhile, they earned hundreds of thousands of dollars selling the course and most of the students buying the course never even started watching it.The worst part is how much I participated in all of it. When I started out online and frequently throughout much of my 13 years as a full time content creator, I had little integrity myself and was happy when I figured out what to say to sell my courses or get my views. My karma was constant instability and frequent financial insecurity. No matter how much I achieved, it consistently never felt good enough.The corruption I saw online reminded me of where I came from. My parents met at the racetrack in Michigan back in the 1980s, an environment that was totally compromised. The mafia fixed races, alcoholics did much of the grunt work like training the horses, and everyone knew the game was rigged. My father was one of those drunks. My mother worked as a track veterinarian and eventually found it unsustainable to keep working in such a dishonest environment.She joined the military, hoping for something better, but discovered much of the same. Because she didn’t drink with the boys or go along with what they thought was right, people backstabbed her. What I’ve learned through her story and my own is that corruption thrives wherever people are willing to trade integrity for money and power.So yes, that might sound bleak but here’s the good news: I’ve also found the most powerful information anywhere in the world — the realization that I am the creator of my own reality. That knowledge changes everything. Most of what you consume is designed to obscure this truth, to keep you feeling powerless and distracted. But once you know it, you see the world differently.When you realize you are the creator, you stop believing the world is fixed or unchangeable. You see that you can — and already do — change it. I’ve experienced this myself. Through my videos, I’ve influenced millions of people and sparked new conversations around big topics. I’ve seen people rethink parts of the “control matrix” because of something I put out. I know you have that same ability. You can be the change you want to see in the world.

Why I Unplugged

When I unplugged from the internet, everything in my life became easier — in both my mind and my body. I talked to a friend recently who had a similar experience. She spent weeks in nature without her phone and felt blissful. But when she returned to St. Petersburg, she said the city’s energy weighed her down again. She thought she needed to move to the country.I asked her what changed when she came back. Did she get back on her phone? She admitted she had. At first she was still playing music and staying grounded, but the longer she was home, the more she found herself sitting and watching Netflix or scrolling endlessly. I told her: what she was experiencing wasn’t just “the city’s energy.” The primary way that negative, toxic energy was getting in was through her phone, TV, and other screens.That was my story too. For years, I wrecked my mind with endless phone use, gaming, and streaming. And when your mind is unhealthy, your body usually follows. The only reason I wasn’t completely undone was because I built consistent physical practices: yoga five times a week, regular massage therapy, singles tennis at the racquet club, and running whenever I could. These practices kept me afloat, but it was only when I unplugged from digital consumption that I really started to heal.Let me be clear: being a content creator sucks. It drains the people who make content, and it drains the people who consume it. So I walked away from all of it. I deleted everything:- A Facebook page with 1.9 million followers
- Fifteen YouTube channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers
- Multiple monetized channels that together earned thousands of dollars a month in passive income
- Millions of views across TikTok, X, and other platformsGone. All of it. I don’t watch YouTube videos anymore. I deleted all my subscriptions. I don’t watch Netflix or TV, I don’t listen to recorded music on my own, and I don’t play video games because I realized that almost everything you take in online is designed to keep you feeling like a victim and drain you like a battery. Like in Fight Club, the things you own end up owning you. And for me, the things I had built online — the channels, the platforms, the metrics — they owned me.After stepping away, I also began to see the mindset of other creators more clearly. Most of the top online creators I’ve known personally also understand that they are the creators of their own reality but instead of using that knowledge to empower people, they use it to dominate. They look at their audiences as sheep — people who like to be controlled. And the hard truth is, the numbers often proved them right. When I made videos that tried to empower people, they didn’t perform well. When I made content full of control, dominance, or reinforcement of what people already believed, the views came pouring in. Manipulation was rewarded; empowerment was ignored.Books, however, carry a different energy. People take them seriously. They aren’t consumed in the same endless-scroll environment as videos and social media. They’re more distraction-free, more timeless, and more powerful. Some of the most life-changing information I’ve ever found came from $10 used books on eBay or audiobooks on Audible. Books have shaped me more than any online video ever could. That’s why I focus on writing today.

Why I Am Building a Mind-Body Coaching-Massage Practice

After publishing books, I realized that many readers wanted something more from me — a deeper connection beyond the page. At first, I thought life coaching might be the answer but when I hired coaches myself, I quickly saw that they also integrated other tools like counseling or hypnotherapy. I'm sure I'm not interested in going to school for either of those and felt like there was something I could offer that would be better than just sitting and talking to my readers.Over the last eleven years, I’ve had somewhere between 500 and 600 massages. Some of the best conversations and deepest connections I’ve ever had with people happened on the massage table. I’d go in for bodywork and end up giving back coaching, advice, or support to the therapist without even meaning to. It finally clicked: if I became a licensed massage therapist, I could combine the two — the physical healing of massage and the depth of meaningful conversation — into one powerful offering.In today’s world, people are more lonely and disconnected than ever. What could be more powerful than receiving physical healing and genuine human connection at the same time? That’s my vision: a combined massage and coaching experience. Sessions that go beyond traditional massage to include supportive, deeply connected conversation. Something that leaves people feeling not only physically restored but emotionally and spiritually recharged.With my background in writing, speaking, and recovery, I know I can create sessions that are unlike anything else in St. Petersburg. And because I value this experience highly, I intend to position myself at the very top of the market — the highest-priced massage in town. Coaching alone didn’t feel like the right fit, but when combined with bodywork, it becomes something transformative.As I start massage school in September 8, 2025, my plan is to continue publishing books, refining this vision, and prepare my marketing materials for when I have my massage license. Writing has given me the foundation, but this next chapter will be about combining the mental with a physical practice that includes touch, presence, and connection — helping others in the same way I’ve been helped. In the meantime, if you would like me to make a website like this for you in Saint Petersburg or Sarasota, Florida, text me at 727-339-0333

Public Speaking and Training Seminars

If you are looking for an unforgettable speaker, workshop, or training seminar near St. Petersburg, Florida—including Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota, and Bradenton—you will love having me at your event. I have recorded tens of thousands of videos, which has given me an incredible depth of speaking experience. I’ve also honed my craft in live settings, sharing several times a week at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. My talks in AA have sparked some of the hardest laughter I’ve ever heard, while also inspiring real change in people’s lives. Hundreds of people have told me over the years how much my words impacted them. While some have suggested I become a stand-up comedian, I prefer to let humor flow naturally into my teaching.What I excel at most is speaking on subjects where I have deep personal experience. These include unplugging from the internet, overcoming technology addiction, building a healthy work–life balance, digital marketing, online advertising, content creation, marriage, family, and navigating major life transitions. I am equally comfortable discussing the kinds of topics that many people avoid—sex, death, money, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, pornography, and more. In fact, I can integrate them together into one powerful presentation.If your goal is to have people open up and truly connect, I bring unique workshop formats designed to help participants know each other on a deeper level than they ever have before. I believe that people who really understand one another work together more effectively, which makes this approach especially powerful in corporate and organizational environments.I have been a member of Toastmasters, and even there, people wondered why I bothered attending since my public speaking skills were already advanced. I joined because I enjoy new experiences and wanted to learn what I could from the community. Earlier in my career, as a graduate assistant, I lectured to classrooms with hundreds of students—a notoriously difficult audience to hold. After one lecture on corrections, another assistant told me that out of all the speakers who had addressed that class, including political leaders like the mayor of Tampa, my talk was the one that truly captivated the audience.I believe in honesty and openness, which means there are certain environments where I am not the right fit. If people are unwilling to have heartfelt conversations, if every word must fit inside the narrow bounds of political correctness, or if people are afraid to express themselves freely, I am not interested in speaking there unless the purpose is to challenge that environment. I never use notes or scripts; I speak from the heart. My words always come out naturally and authentically, which means if you need a speaker who will submit a word-for-word draft ahead of time, I am not the right choice.My style has been compared to the presence of Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, and Brené Brown combined. Whether you need a brief ten-minute speech or a weekend-long seminar, I can deliver. Having streamed live for years, I am comfortable talking for hours on end—though of course, I tailor the length and structure to serve the audience best.I help people understand that they are the creators of their own reality, and I specialize in empowering audiences to step into their sovereignty. Empowered people are more creative, energetic, and productive. If your company is struggling to innovate, I can help unlock fresh ideas immediately, especially around marketing and customer growth. For audiences of small business owners, I bring firsthand lessons from running my own business online through turbulent times—how to adapt, thrive, and stay energized no matter the circumstances.If you would like to work with me, send me a text at 727-339-0333 and mention that you are interested in speaking or seminars.

1-on-1 Coaching

If you are looking for a coach near St. Petersburg, Florida who can meet with you in person one-on-one, I’d love to work with you. I can help you with personal growth and life transitions, relationships and family, sobriety and addiction recovery, technology and digital life balance, creativity and purpose, business and entrepreneurship, and spiritual and emotional well-being. I coach in these areas because I am thriving in them myself, with decades of personal experience to draw from. More importantly, I can connect these areas together into a powerful, holistic approach.My marriage is thriving after more than a decade with my wife. We enjoy open communication, deep trust, and a level of connection that is rare to see. We have sex most days, we laugh, and we are closer now than ever before. Our relationship is built on honesty, support, and a willingness to talk openly about difficult subjects. I am equally fulfilled as a parent, balancing family responsibilities with personal growth and creativity. I consistently create time to be present with my children and know the joy of showing up as a loving father each day. These experiences give me insight into breaking cycles of unhealthy relationships and creating healthier family dynamics.When it comes to personal growth and life transitions, I have navigated some of the biggest changes imaginable. Deleting my entire online presence and starting over was not a crisis—it was a joyful reset. Instead of being stressed or consumed with fear about money, I embraced the unknown with clarity and trust. If you are going through a career shift, moving to a new city, becoming a parent, or reinventing your life, I can help you do it with the same confidence and resilience. I grew up as an Army brat, moving often, and I’ve gotten better and better at quickly fitting into new environments and making new friends. If you feel isolated or want to build stronger friendships, I can help you do that.Confidence, resilience, and authentic self-expression are some of my greatest strengths. Some would say I have delusional self-confidence, which is how I married such an incredible woman in the first place. I’ve been banned and canceled publicly in painful, humiliating ways—and yet I always come back stronger, finding a better path forward. I’ve put out more than 10,000 videos online, proving self-expression is second nature to me. Underlying all of this is a sense of clarity and direction. I know exactly why I’m here, and even in my lowest moments the only regret I’ve ever felt is not living my mission fully enough. My coaching comes from that deep clarity of purpose.When it comes to sobriety and addiction recovery, I’ve been sober for over eleven years. Along the way I’ve also quit gambling, quit watching porn, quit consuming endless online content, and built the healthiest sex life I’ve ever seen anyone have. If you are seeking a joyful, sustainable path to long-term sobriety, I can guide you there. I’ve already helped countless people in Alcoholics Anonymous and beyond, sharing practical tools for accountability, relapse prevention, and emotional healing.Today, one of the biggest addictions people face is technology. I know this struggle inside and out. Few people with millions of followers would delete everything, but I did. I was tired of being trapped by my own online life. Most people don’t hit the same level of addiction I experienced, but even if your habit is just watching an hour of videos every night, I can help you break free. What matters is looking at what you’re avoiding in your life. For me, one of the clearest lessons came when I got hooked on the game Marvel Snap in 2024. I spent over $2,000 on cards, rationalizing that streaming it might make me a professional player—just as I had once earned $100,000+ in profit from being a professional gamer and streamer playing mostly Call of Duty: Warzone and retro games in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The truth with Marvel Snap was me avoiding challenges in my marriage and family life. Once I quit the game, I faced those issues head-on, and everything got better. I can help you do the same: use technology wisely while keeping your real life first.Creativity and purpose are central to who I am. I’ve uploaded 10,000+ videos ranging from gaming live streams to crypto, music, stand up comedy, meditations, vlogs, inspiration, and more. I understand burnout, and I know how to move through it. I’ve rarely struggled with perfectionism, because I trust that whatever I create will reach the people it’s meant to help. That’s the mindset I can help you cultivate. I thrive at generating new ideas, taking inspired action, and building projects around passion instead of fear or money. Most people chase money or avoid failure, but I can show you how to create simply because it brings joy—and how to share your work with the world without holding back.As a business owner and entrepreneur, I’ve survived over a decade online through every kind of turbulence imaginable. I’ve supported my family as the primary income earner, built and scaled businesses, and also destroyed them by going too far with bold ideas. I’ve hired hundreds of freelancers and spent close to a million dollars on help. My biggest lesson: never pay someone to do something that isn’t worth doing in the first place. I’ve learned the importance of cutting down to the essentials, staying lean, and focusing only on what truly matters. I know how to market authentically, tell stories that resonate, and find customers without gimmicks. If you’re a small business owner, solopreneur, or creator, I can guide you through the practical, painful, and rewarding lessons of entrepreneurship.Underlying all of this is spiritual and emotional well-being. This is the foundation that drives everything else. My journey began in Alcoholics Anonymous and expanded through reading hundreds of books, listening to countless hours of Wayne Dyer and Eckhart Tolle, and building my own education in every area of life. If you want help creating a self-education curriculum that makes you resilient and well-rounded, I can do that. I can recommend the books and practices that have shaped me. I also know that guilt, shame, and fear sabotage spiritual growth more than anything else. I have personal experience healing from these, and I can connect you with a community of healers to support your journey when needed. My goal is to help you live from peace, gratitude, joy, and abundance—because that’s who I am and what I live for.My number one personal expense for a decade has been investing in my mental and physical health. For 11 years, I've consistently paid a massage each week. I have a life coach now and am living the benefits of many hypnotherapy sessions with Michelle Butler. I've spent thousands more on personal training and now have an unlimited yoga membership at Body Electric. On top of all that I pay for, I'm grateful I've consistently worked with a sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous for 11 years along with enjoying mentorship from many others in AA who've helped me put together a life I enjoy which serves others. My thought with coaching is to be a living example. If you want what I have, I can help you.Working with me, you’ll appreciate my directness. Some people are offended by it, but others find it life-changing. I will tell you the truth from the outside, without worrying whether it hurts your feelings, because sometimes that’s what it takes to make real change. If you want someone to sugarcoat things, I’m not your coach. But if you want someone who can completely change your life in a single session—or point you toward the right person if I’m not the best fit—you will appreciate my style. Whether I’m a stepping stone on your journey or a long-term partner walking beside you, my mission is to help you move forward. If you’d like to get a sense of what I’ve lived through, read my book Speaker Meeting 2017, or my upcoming books that expand on my journey.If you’d like to work with me for 1-on-1 Coaching, send me a text at 727-339-0333 and mention that you’re interested in coaching.