There are some journeys in life that begin with a big plan.
And then there are journeys that begin with a simple question:
“Can people who enjoy my Grandpa Journey blog buy me a coffee?”
That was how my latest little adventure began.
I had seen the idea of “Buy Me a Coffee” before. The concept is simple: if someone enjoys your stories, articles, or the work you share online, they can leave you a small contribution—as if they were buying you a cup of coffee.
I thought it might be a nice addition to Grandpa Journey.
But there was one problem.
I had never set it up before.
So I decided to try something different.
Instead of trying to figure everything out by myself, I asked my AI companion, ChatGPT, to walk along with me.
Starting With a Simple Question
I told ChatGPT what I wanted:
I would like to have a “Buy Grandpa a Coffee” button on my Grandpa Journey blog.
That sounded simple.
But very quickly, I discovered that there were several steps behind that simple button.
I needed to create an account, choose a profile name, connect a payment service, provide business information, verify my identity, connect my bank account, and eventually make sure everything was ready for receiving payouts.
For someone who is not an expert in online payment systems, it could easily become confusing.
But I didn't try to understand everything at once.
I simply took one step at a time.
ChatGPT Became My Walking Companion
This is where the experience became interesting.
I would reach a new screen and tell ChatGPT what I saw.
Sometimes I typed the words on the screen.
Sometimes I sent a screenshot.
Then ChatGPT would explain what the page meant and tell me what to do next.
It wasn't:
“Here are 20 things you need to do. Good luck.”
Instead, it was more like walking with a companion.
We took one step.
Then another.
Then another.
When I wasn't sure whether to click a button, I asked.
When a new page appeared, I described it.
When I received an email from Stripe asking me to provide photo identification, I brought the message to ChatGPT and asked what it meant.
And together, we continued.
Then Came Stripe
The payment side eventually led me to Stripe.
This was the part that felt more serious.
Stripe asked me to verify my identity and provide information about the account representative.
I had to upload identification and complete the verification process.
There were moments when I wasn't completely sure whether I was doing the right thing.
Again, I didn't rush.
I showed ChatGPT what I was seeing, and we went through the process carefully.
Eventually, I connected my RBC bank account for payouts.
Then I reached the payout section.
And finally, the message that I had been waiting for appeared:
Connected.
That was a small word.
But after going through all those steps, it felt like a little victory.
There Were a Few Nervous Moments
The journey wasn't completely smooth.
At one point, Stripe showed a message saying that a required task was past due.
That certainly caught my attention.
I opened the task and found that Stripe needed identity verification.
I followed the instructions, uploaded my photo ID, and completed the requested verification.
Later, the Stripe dashboard showed that there were no further actions required.
We had done it.
The account was ready.
The payout connection was completed.
And my “Buy Grandpa a Coffee” journey had moved from an idea to something real.
What I Learned
The most important thing I learned wasn't actually how to use Stripe.
It was something much simpler:
Don't be afraid of a complicated-looking screen.
Break it into small pieces.
When I first looked at the whole process, I could easily have thought:
“This is too complicated for me.”
But I didn't have to understand the entire system.
I only needed to understand the next step.
That made a huge difference.
And having ChatGPT beside me made the process much less intimidating.
Technology Doesn't Have to Replace Us
Sometimes people talk about artificial intelligence as though AI is going to do everything for us.
My experience was different.
ChatGPT didn't take over the process.
I clicked the buttons.
I read the screens.
I uploaded my identification.
I connected my bank account.
I made the decisions.
ChatGPT simply helped me understand what I was looking at and what I should consider doing next.
In other words, I was still driving the car.
ChatGPT was sitting beside me with the map.
That is probably the way I like using AI the most.
An 80-Year-Old Can Still Learn New Things
I am an 80-year-old grandfather.
I've lived through a time when there were no personal computers, no smartphones, no social media, and certainly no ChatGPT.
Now I'm running blogs, experimenting with AI tools, looking at Google Analytics, exploring affiliate programs, and setting up online payment systems.
Sometimes I have to smile at the journey.
Technology keeps changing.
And apparently, I haven't stopped learning yet.
That's something I hope to remember for a long time.
Being 80 doesn't mean the learning journey is over.
It simply means that sometimes I take the journey a little more slowly.
And that's perfectly fine.
One Step at a Time
Looking back, setting up “Buy Grandpa a Coffee” wasn't really a technical project.
It became another chapter in my Grandpa Journey.
I started with a simple idea.
I wasn't sure how to make it happen.
So I asked my AI companion to walk with me.
We went through the screens together.
We solved one problem at a time.
And eventually, we reached the other side.
That experience reminded me of something I have learned many times in life:
You don't always need to know how to finish the journey before you begin.
Sometimes you just need to know the next step.
Then take it.
And then take the next one.
A Coffee Is More Than a Coffee
If one day a reader decides to click “Buy Grandpa a Coffee,” I will certainly appreciate it.
But for me, the button represents something more than a cup of coffee.
It represents the continuing journey of an old grandfather who is still curious, still exploring, and still willing to learn something new.
And this time, I had a very unusual walking companion beside me.
ChatGPT.
So, thank you, AI companion.
Another little journey completed.
And I suspect there will be many more.
Grandpa Journey
Exploring → Learning → Documenting → Sharing
At 80, I'm still walking.
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