You Don't Need More Information
You don't need more information. That means more videos, more answers from AI. What you really need is people — at least one person, if not a bunch of people — who really know you and that you feel really connected with. In the information age, that is what is scarce. With being able to ask anything of AI today and have it give you answers, we've got more access to information than any humans in modern recorded history have had. And yet today, the fact is, as I talked about in my last post, more people than ever are lonely. Information alone is not enough to help you.
What I've found in my development journey is that if you want to reach your full potential, if you want to feel the best you can feel and live a life you're really proud to live, the driver behind that is human connection. And what are the primary forms of human connection? Obviously being with people in person, having family, having friends — but those things can often be challenging to figure out. How do I get more family and friends? A lot of people, like me, being single, are working on dating to build human connection in their lives — I have a Jerry Banfield dating channel about that. But what has made the transition from being divorced into being single and dating really workable is all the connection I've had: all the people who know me, the people I can tell absolutely anything, and the people who are there to listen to me and talk and share and connect. Because no matter how many videos you watch, no matter how much information you take in — this is why I even pay for a massage. A massage is very valuable to me because it's physical human connection. And when you combine that with deep conversation, you feel this really deep sense of not being alone.
So many people are struggling with feeling alone, and in my experience it's because you don't have enough human connection. There's a rational side of our brains that's very satisfied with taking in content and talking to AI. But then there's the emotional side of our brains, and the emotional side is often in the driver's seat, with the rational side sitting there trying to explain its behavior all the time. You need real human connection to have the best life you can have.
Problems That Look Easy in the Context of Connection
A lot of the problems I found in my life that were so difficult to solve alone looked so easy in the context of human connection. For example, in Alcoholics Anonymous: I had struggled to stay sober before I went to AA. Then I went to Alcoholics Anonymous, and it took about 90 days to make the transition — but after a few months sober and working the AA program, staying sober has been very easy for the last 12 years. That's a perfect example of where, in my experience, no amount of information you watch about staying sober is going to do it for you. No amount of courses or programs or books you read is going to meet the critical threshold for you to be able to stay sober. In fact, a lot of people today are miserable because you've got the information, but when you fail to apply the information, this powerlessness and frustration comes in. The key is that having people who know you is the secret to successfully applying the information you need to make your life better.
That's why I've pivoted my entire business. I created a business called Jerry Banfield, and I've created content to get you in the door and to get connected. But where I can really help the most is this: imagine talking to me every week. That's what you need in your life. Unless you've already got a ton of people you talk to who really know you — then you don't need that. But most of us, our lives are too small, and we struggle to find people we feel really know us. People where we can really say what we're thinking; where when we're having a great day, we can celebrate with this person; and when we're having a challenging day, this person can be there and support us.
And I think most of us don't need more therapy or fixing, either. What we need is people who care, who are present, and who can connect with us on a human level. When you say, "Hey, I had a hard day today. I'm in fear about money," and then I show up and say, "Well, I understand that. Here's my experience, and here's what I'm going through today right now as well." What's perfect is that the videos I make put me in the position to be a great listener for you, because you already have enough time listening to me talk if you're watching my videos. But what I am very interested in — what I need — is to listen to you more. I need to hear what you have to say in your life, because that will help me make better videos, and then that will help us have a two-way relationship.
Two-Way Relationships Beat One-Way Relationships
So many people right now have their whole heads filled with one-way relationships, where you watch Mr. Beast videos and you watch Jerry Banfield videos and you listen to Joe Rogan. You have all these people who are an influence in your life. For me it was Wayne Dyer and Eckhart Tolle — I've listened to so many of their books — and Dr. Michael Greger. All these people I've watched and listened to, but they don't know me at all. Maybe one of them has heard of me. Wayne Dyer has passed on, so maybe he's heard of me in the afterlife. What helps me is having people where we have two-way relationships, where you know me and I know you.
We're at the point where we have so much access to information that community is a huge deal. That's why I've centered my whole business around building an online — and if you're in St. Pete, Florida, a local — family community. And family can be successfully sustained, at least most of the time, just by talking on the phone. You can call with me on Zoom — you can just use your phone to dial a number if you want to, or have an audio call with the Zoom app on any device, or go directly face to face with a Zoom video call. And if you're in St. Pete, Florida, and you want to meet up in person instead of having those calls, I can actually arrange to set that up also.
So I am seeing that the main thing I need to offer as a YouTuber is the ability to have a two-way relationship. That way, when you watch my videos, you have a different perspective, and when I'm making my videos, I know who I'm talking to. My biggest challenge as a YouTuber is not knowing who I'm talking to. Comments and community are helpful, but really seeing people face to face — whether that's on a Zoom call or seeing people in person — has completely transformed how I create content on YouTube. This is why some YouTubers seem to do really well. Mr. Beast seems to know his audience insanely well, and that's one reason he can make videos that — criticize them all you want — clearly give his audience what it wants, because he has so many people around him who watch his videos and give him information, and he's so sensitive to his audience. In my worst times on YouTube over the past 15 years, I have been very insensitive to my audience because I haven't understood them. And what a lot of YouTubers do is intentionally try to keep their audience at arm's length. This goes across everywhere — YouTube, Instagram, all kinds of media, even books. It's really important to have two-way relationships and to minimize one-way relationships wherever practical.
Now, sure, I watch people I don't talk to. But a lot of the time I watch people I do talk to. On my ICP channel there's Blockchain Pill — he and I have talks on Zoom, and he was one of the first people to join the family. Bobby O — I text him, and I think we've had some phone calls; it's been like a year, and I think we had a call or two here and there. I watched Supaman's live stream recently, and we've had calls together. So I know that one of the biggest things that's changed my life is the power of a two-way relationship. Some of the people who are the biggest heroes in my life — what did they really do? They listened with an empathetic and open heart, and they shared their stories. They shared their life with me honestly. That's what's more powerful than just taking in information.
What AI Can't Give You
Now, no doubt, taking in information can help, but I don't think anyone has a shortage of information today. And when I get out of my real-life conversations, I start to see what I should learn, because there's so much information out there it can be difficult to even figure out: what should I watch more of? What do I need to learn? What kind of content should I even look for? AI can help with that a bit, and AI is a partner that's valuable in a lot of ways, but AI does not have a real human experience. AI is not out here walking and talking. While AI has been very helpful for me going through my business and going through different ideas — instantly giving some of my bad business ideas criticism — what AI lacks is that real heartfelt experience. It lacks the ability to appreciate exactly what my viewer is likely to be going through. It often misses a lot of the nuances of being human, and having AI tell me that it understands my situation just doesn't mean anything. But when I call my friend on the phone and I'm in agony about dating, and he says, "Well, let me tell you about what happened in my life" — then there's this shared sense that we're part of something bigger.
Some people will call that a higher power. Some people will funnel that into a specific faith like Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, and others Buddhism or Hinduism, and others will just be more spiritual or new age. But to me, the real transformation comes from a felt, heartfelt connection — I think it's the right brain, the more creative, less logical brain — a heartfelt, right-brain-felt connection and being part of a whole. It gets real easy, just taking in information, to start to feel insanely selfish and lonely and isolated. That's why I think it's so important to have that, and that's why I think the real purpose of my videos should be to invite two-way connection. Now, yes, I'll give you information that's valuable. I'll share my mindset. But what's more valuable is for you to hear what I have to say and then tell me what you have to say based on what I said.
And of course, this needs to be paid. I actually did try doing totally free calls, and half the time people wouldn't show up. There needs to be some investment. So let's just be real about this.
This Is What I Do Full Time
I do this full time. I don't do anything else, because I'm good at this — there's nothing else I know that I'm better at. But I'm also very good at listening. I'm very good at taking in information. I'm very good at having heartfelt conversations. I practiced that for 12 years in Alcoholics Anonymous in detail, and I've also practiced it with hundreds of people all around the world on Zoom, on audio calls, and on group calls. So I'm here to give you what I believe will make your life whole. In a world where you've got all this information, imagine adding me to your world in a two-way relationship where, when you comment on a video, I've had calls with you and I know you so much better.
I love when people who know me in real life show up. There was one person who's known me in real life who came by to comment on my Jerry Banfield game stream earlier today, and it's so much easier to talk to them because I know them in person. They were actually the very first person ever, after I deleted everything online, that I told about my YouTube channels — before anybody else. Even when they just stop by for five minutes while they're working, it means a lot to me that they're there. So I want to have a much more well-rounded approach with my viewers, where I have a community. I need the family myself, so that I'm not just shouting into the void — I know who I'm talking to.
And you need me. Maybe not all of you, but there's a number of you who, if you started talking to me every week, would be able to successfully apply a lot of the information you've taken in over your life. Here's how this works. When you just talk and think, but you don't have people who know what you're trying to do and why you're doing it — people who know you — it can be difficult. But when you watch my videos, for example my videos talking about health or diet, and you say, "Okay, Jerry, I'm going to try this whole plant-based diet you're on," well, if I don't know you, there's no accountability there. If you talk to me every week, that changes. It's worth it — people pay far more for things that give them much less in return. And I want to reward the people who've been following me for a long time and really want to have a two-way relationship with me instead of just listening to my videos.
I have so many creators I watch that I would love to have a call with every week, just because I know them enough that we could have a great conversation. Think of all the videos you've watched with me and what we could talk about. That means we can skip the small talk, and you can just unload your whole life on me. Usually in a call, you would talk 20 minutes and I might talk five minutes. Listening to you will influence me — I obviously keep everybody's information private, and I don't talk about anyone specifically, though I may share general situations or ideas that are influenced by it. When I listen to you for 20 minutes, that motivates what I share and gives me the context I create my videos from. It's like training data for AI.
So I've set this up as a membership where you get a call with me every week — four calls a month you can have with me. That's 52 calls you could have with me every year. Imagine talking with me 52 times, and think about how much time that is: a little less than 20 hours where I would mostly listen to you. Then from you watching my videos and me listening to you for 20 hours, we have a strong connection. We would know each other. And when you're changing your diet, you're already thinking about talking to me about it.
Accountability Works Both Ways
What helps me is that I have a bunch of people in my life I talk to, that I'm accountable to. My sponsor in AA talked to me yesterday, and he said, "I'm not going to co-sign the idea of you working all day and then going to one meeting a week." That got me thinking. I have a different guy in AA I talked to, and he said, "Go ahead and try doing one meeting a week and see how that feels," because in 12 years I've never done that. And now I'm feeling like I'm going to go to maybe two or three meetings a week instead of just one. Talking to my sponsor and this other guy in AA, and then other people who aren't even in AA — all the conversations I have with other people make things easier.
There are so many people I talk to that, just today, I had an amazing experience meeting a woman in person, and I was ready to talk to her because I practice talking and having real relationships all the time with people all over my life. When I meet someone new, I'm ready to open my heart and have a conversation immediately, at the level I already have with everybody else. So I'm a person you can practice with. You can practice having amazing conversations with me, and that practice will help you with every other person in your life.
I intend to make this my full-time income — this is all I will do. Right now I'm super grateful that after 110 days or so since I created six YouTube channels from scratch, I'm already making thousands of dollars a month. That is absolutely incredible — that's like top 1% of new channels on YouTube by far. And I'm aiming for $10,000 or $20,000 a month. The family, to me, is the center of that: I am willing to work 25 to 50 hours a week talking to all of you collectively in exchange for a full-time income, and then making videos that also get some ad revenue on top of that.
So I'm here to be there every week for you. In the community, you can DM me every day if you want. You can post to everybody else who's in this same community — people who clearly must have a significant amount of life in common with you to be there. You might make some new friends in the community. You might find somebody you could talk to, and both of you could talk. What if joining my community and talking to me every week led to you finding three or four other people you talk to every week, and your whole life got better? That was the thing you did that was like a little turning point where all these other great things happened, because you took one single action: you opened up, you gave me a chance to be there and get to know you, and then all these other things happened in your life.
Why I'm Offering This Instead of a Course
That's why I'm offering this. Because I could sell a course. I could launch a meme coin. There's all kinds of stuff I could do to make money for myself — I could print a hundred thousand plus dollars a month if I did what I know how to do with my crypto channels. But that wouldn't be good for you. What would be good for you is to talk with me every week. That would really help you. And I'm big into the hundred true fans idea: the family sets me up to have a hundred true fans, a hundred people who love my videos. I don't need any more than that. It sets me up to have enough. Because what I've known from getting over a billion views online, being a "famous" YouTuber at various points, having celebrities cover me — I've single-handedly influenced entire big conversations with my videos and then seen that come back to me through people who've never even seen my videos. I've had a dramatic impact on this world with my videos. But what I can say is that it always gets to the point where it's never enough. Okay, I had this huge impact — well, I want more, to where you just want to take over and be dictator of the whole world.
What I've known is that the people who've made the biggest difference in my life are the ones who listened to me. I've read books like Wayne Dyer's and listened to Eckhart Tolle talks, and that's been helpful. But Ty — Ty's passed on, and Ty would be happy to have me mention him specifically — Ty was like a father or a grandfather figure to me in Alcoholics Anonymous. Him sitting there and pouring his life out to me, and me pouring my life out to him after meetings — that saved my life. That made all the difference in the world. And you might not have someone like Ty that you know in person. But the more you add people to your life like Ty — when I saw Ty, I thought, "I want to be like him," and now people tell me I am like him — that's what I want to be for as many people as possible. And just adding me to your life could help you start to recognize other people who could be like that in your life too.
What you ultimately want is at least a handful, if not 10, 20, or 50 people like Ty, like me, in your life. Because that will fill you up completely. That will make everything in your life enough. That will make life worth living. That will remove loneliness. I was just talking with someone who put out a video and had all these desperate people reaching out to them, and I said: what you need is to talk to someone who gets to know you over time. Because then it'll take the edge off of desperation. It'll take the edge off of insane thinking. And when you're then connected, everything else flows from there.
This has been a really long pitch to join the Jerry Banfield Family, because it's worth it. I don't think there's anything better you could do with your day than join the family and start scheduling those calls with me. Somebody just scheduled a call with me — it's Monday, and they scheduled a call for Wednesday. And I love the calls. This is what I was missing before, and I'm very excited to get to know you.
I Want to Know You
I want to know you. You've listened to me talk so much — I need to hear you talk. It's only fair. And then whenever we can meet up in person, I'll actually know you instead of you just being a fan. If you're ever in town in St. Petersburg, Florida, get into the family, and then all you have to do is DM me and say, "Hey, instead of using my weekly call, let's meet up in person for 30 minutes," or, "Instead of doing all my monthly calls, can you meet up with me in person for an hour or two while I'm in town?" Sure. That's how you do it.
And I'm super grateful. What I see is that all I need is a couple of people to join every week. I've been getting over 50,000 impressions a day on YouTube — more now, actually. Out of those hundreds of thousands of impressions every week, all I need is a couple of people on average to join the family, and I'm going to make all the money I could possibly need. More importantly, in exchange for that money, I'm going to give you something insanely valuable — priceless: real human connection.
I had a call with a guy recently, and I've thought of his call so much. His life has been so challenging, and I encouraged him. I listened for almost the whole time, and then he asked, "What do you think I should do?" And I told him: just start sharing this — put some videos out about this and share it. It will help you process it, and you will help other people in similar situations. If you want to see how I share my own life the same way, that's exactly what I do on my Life playlist.
So I am really grateful you spent all this time here. And imagine — you could be spending all this time talking to me, with me listening to you instead. You see what I mean?