I'm starting over on YouTube, and here's my exact plan. I've been on YouTube since 2011, created 20 channels, and last year deleted all 15 I had — I thought I was leaving forever. Now I have five new channels, and I'll lay out the business plan for each based on everything I've learned uploading thousands of videos.
The core monetization: calls
The main way I monetize every channel is sending viewers to one website to book a one-on-one call. I've sold millions in courses and run recurring programs, but what people really want — and what I value too — is to talk one-on-one. It works even with small views, and it helps me get to know my audience. That's why small channels can fund a full-time income.
The five channels
My ICP crypto channel got immediate organic traffic and was nearly monetized in two weeks from 14 off-the-cuff videos; my crypto-reviews channel reaches people searching other coins and funnels them back to ICP. Those two are my income/business channels — crazy profitable in crypto up-cycles, quieter the rest of the time, but always in position. My gaming channel is a fun, long-term passion play: I play a new game every day, which keeps content fresh, reaches new audiences, and could be 3,650+ videos in a decade. My YouTube coaching channel is an accountability and case-study channel documenting this rebuild. And my main channel is a broad personal-development brand for courses on dating, weight loss, sobriety, and more — the work that feels most meaningful to me.
Workflow, comments, and focus
I film fast and look professional (RE20 mic and Rodecaster Duo, Sony FX30, a fast PC, recording live in OBS). I changed my comment moderation: I heart supportive comments and quickly hide the first nasty or bad-faith one from a user, so my comment sections stay a positive community — I used to tolerate negativity for the algorithm and it burned me out. I use Google Ads as a flywheel (reinvesting income into ads to grow), cross-promote all channels under consistent "Jerry Banfield" branding so they feed each other, and — the biggest change — I'm focusing only on YouTube this time. My biggest wasted decade was constantly pulling people off YouTube to Twitch, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram; YouTube, backed by Google and AI search, is the one platform I'm committing to. If you want help, watch my YouTube coaching playlist here.