The One With Ben Kelly

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:00:32]:
Well, hello there. Hello. Welcome back. Welcome to another episode. Thank you for joining us. I always I I don’t underestimate the huge choice that you’ve got in in, podcasts that you could be listening to. So the fact that you’re here, I really appreciate. I really appreciate you taking the time, and I hope you enjoy it.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:00:51]:
This is another episode with a guest. I’ve got a guest with a slight difference. This is, a guy I’ve known for a few years now and very inspiring. You’ll see why when we when we bring him on. I as I always do, I ask ask for a little bit of a bio. This is a slightly different bio, and again you’ll see why when we bring this gentleman on. So his story, he was born in 1984 with spina bifida hydrocephalus, which means that the vertebrae are damaged, stopping any signals getting to his legs. He is paralyzed from the waist down and he spent most of his first 8 years in the children’s hospital, mainly in intensive care.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:01:34]:
He had a hole in his back until surgeons operated on his spine and closed his back up with a kind of putty which grew out as the hole healed up. Then there’s the hydrocephalus part of his condition which means he’s got water on the brain. Now this was managed by a tube taking the water from his brain to his stomach, which was right until he got blocked around 10 years ago, giving him the worst headaches Noble. The worst headaches he’s ever known. The pressure could have killed him. Fortunately, the doctors put it all right. If you’re thinking, oh my word, how do you how do you create a life when you’re when you’re dealt that hand to start with? That’s exactly why you’re gonna want to listen to this episode as I bring in my guest, Ben Kelly. Hey, Ben.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:02:24]:
Are you there, sir? How are you doing?

Ben Kelly [00:02:26]:
I I am here. I’m great. Thank you. One thing that I just wanted to add to that little, intro, Absolutely amazing. Thank you for saying it in in such enthusiastic way. I am paralyzed from the waist down, but it’s not literally from the hip down. I I can feel bits and pieces. I just I just can’t walk, if that makes sense.

Ben Kelly [00:02:50]:
And it’s all due to those the rest of us being broken and the sick of not getting the they get through, but they don’t get through completely to my leg.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:03:00]:
Gotcha. Gotcha. So that is that is an important distinction. So you do have feeling, but you just don’t have full control of the muscles. So you can feel stuff, but you can’t can’t walk.

Ben Kelly [00:03:11]:
Absolutely.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:03:12]:
Not very pleasant. And and that’s why you’re, calling into us from your from bed today. It’s not because bed’s lazy. It’s because he has to. So we we we heard your bio, but who is Ben? Who’s who’s the man behind the bio? Who’s the guy behind all this?

Ben Kelly [00:03:29]:
So me. I am a disabled person with those condition that you said. And, I basically my my Blakemore is I went through, a what I what I was brought up to believe called a special school. It’s basically a a school for the disabled, because back when I was a child, there was no provision to go into maintenance school. So they created a special school to hire people that with all kinds of condition, from physical like mine right through to, people that have got worse conditions and, different conditions, I should say, to, learn difficulties, like foods, people that can’t feed themselves. So I went to school with a variety of people with lots of different different conditions, and that is where my, my life began, really. And then going through life, I, was in that school. So the one school had different sections of of my childhood, really.

Ben Kelly [00:04:58]:
So where an average, mainstream child would go to, 1st school, secondary school, high school, college, etcetera. I went to 1 building, and each individual section of that building with the different type of with different educational process. So first school was in one part. The second school was in another part. College was or 6th form was in another part. And then I went to a college for the disabled in Cheltenham where, my my business start my business trip just before that actually started. And that’s kind of, like, my childhood up to college back 20. Because I left college I I left school when I was 17, 18 with no qualifications.

Ben Kelly [00:06:05]:
And then I had to go to a mainstream college to do a BTech national diploma to get into university. So that’s where my the start of my, my being is really. And because I was because I was dealt with the, disability that that I’ve got, I I could absolutely do my GCSEs and things like that. But because I was in the school that I was in, they didn’t have the provisions to be to put people like myself through school, through GCSE because there wasn’t the the the there wasn’t the availability, the budget. There wasn’t the help or the the there’s no point in the school putting them on because the that there was not enough people to go through it to make it viral, I assume.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:07:11]:
Okay. I get I get you. Yeah. So you have the ability you you personally have the capacity and ability to do to do GCSEs, etcetera. But the school, because it had to cater to, a broad spread of people, presumably weren’t enough people who would have been able to. Just out of curious curiosity, had you been born maybe 20 years later, so so you’re kinda going to school now, do you know if situations are the same? Would you still be in a special a dedicated school, or are mainstream schools more able to to address needs? Or do you know what the situation is?

Ben Kelly [00:07:48]:
So I think the situation is now in 2024, we are absolutely better, But I don’t think we are there yet in my opinion. So the the school that I went to has actually now developed into a college. So now I I believe that they are better equipped at helping, people with disabilities through education. But when I I was born in in 84, and as you said, so I was in school late eighties, early nineties, and it just wasn’t quite there. So I had to go I didn’t actually I didn’t actually, I didn’t get any any degree GCSEs at the school. I went to a college for the disabled, which put me through my GCSE in English and math. But because I didn’t have the the the the teaching at the right age, I failed them. So then I went to a mainstream college and did BTEC national diploma in computing.

Ben Kelly [00:09:05]:
And I did, a GCSE, in computing. Those coupled together got me to university because when I was, late teens, early twenties, I was like because I because because I’m very aware of my condition, and I’m very aware of what my condition means and what my boundaries and my abilities. I thought, like, okay. Well, god loves to try. Right? So I want to be the next I want to be the next Bill Gates. So I I did my my BTEC national diploma in computing. So I went to university to do, to do, coding, computing, and computer programming. So I got there on the course.

Ben Kelly [00:10:07]:
I looked at at the coursework and was like, yeah. This doesn’t make sense. But but because you’ve got, we were speaking prior to this. You’ve got a background in computing. You you you were you were saying. So you would understand lots of letters equals this, that, and the other, and all this sort of stuff. It made absolutely no sense because it’s not logical.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:10:39]:
So I gotcha. Yeah.

Ben Kelly [00:10:40]:
I quit that, and then I went I stayed at the university, and I, basically went to web design. And that’s more logical in terms of this word, this word, this word equals blue rather than a load of letters and numbers equaling blue. It makes more sense. But and I’m sorry if I’m steamrolling here. But

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:11:13]:
It’s alright.

Ben Kelly [00:11:14]:
Then I basically, couldn’t I couldn’t do that because I got something called cellulolysis, which is basically an inflammation of the skin. And, the the remedy for that is antibiotics and bed rest, especially to the extent that that I got I got it. The problem that we had is I wasn’t given the right drugs at the right time. So I kept trying this this the recent pandemic we’ve we’ve had, I totally get the whole school homeschooling thing because I did it back then. And and I I struggled because I wasn’t in in the classroom learning what they were teaching. I was just given it online. It it it didn’t it it didn’t fall in. I didn’t I I couldn’t understand it properly.

Ben Kelly [00:12:24]:
So, I actually failed at web design, but I I kept trying each year. And, eventually, because my nurses, told me that I’d have to go into hospital. And I don’t mean I’m gonna try and and done this down here. But because I because I was told that I was going to lose my legs via an operation rather than, basically, the infection had spread too far. So I, left the the university with the huge choice words, telling them I was absolutely not going to lose my legs under an an operation. Went back to Cheltenham, got on the right antibiotic, and within 3 months, it cleared up. Wow. Wow.

Ben Kelly [00:13:24]:
So that just gave me the because because I but that’s because I’m aware of my own body, and I know that this wasn’t right. So that was my educational assist, getting through to university. I yeah. So so that that was my backstory educationally. Me as a person, I’m more oh, I’m a go getter, and that’s why I wanted to to explain my Blakemore because I think it showed me as a person that I will never give up. You you put a hurdle in front of me. It’s not about, never mind. Let let’s give up.

Ben Kelly [00:14:12]:
It’s about, like, how can I get around it?

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:14:18]:
Yeah. That that that’s, and that that certainly comes through with with your story as well, which we’re gonna I mean, you the observant watching this on YouTube will have noticed that, you you run a company, and we’re we’re gonna explore that in just in just a moment. We’re gonna explore the company run, what it does, and also how you, you overcame, all those issues that your resilience, your mindset, your go getting out of you. We’re gonna explore, that, for the rest of the episode. Just before we get to there, just to give people a little bit of context, are you able to share with us just a little bit about what daily life is is is like for you with with with this condition? How it’s how it impacts daily life and what allowances you have to make, etcetera?

Ben Kelly [00:15:02]:
Absolutely. So, my condition stops me doing everything that a, that that Noble body human being can do. I say everything within limits, obviously. So I, can’t get in in a in and out of bed easily on my own. So I have carers. The pandemic hit. So social services, upped my, allowance for my care to 4 times a day. So prior to to the pandemic hitting, I was having morning and night being hopped into my chair and then hopped back into bed at night.

Ben Kelly [00:15:46]:
Pandemic here, and I I I wasn’t allowed to go and get my own shopping. So at at its height, I was, because I’ve got a bad leg, I’m in bed, which is why you see me in bed now for those that are watching on on on YouTube. But so my condition deteriorated, and it hasn’t got better in 6 years or so. So, basically, they have upped my care to 4 times a day because I wasn’t allowed to go and get my own shopping and stuff as I was saying. But now what what my daily life entails is carers coming in the morning, getting me, helping me get ready, get washed, showered, etcetera. Then then I have different nurses because because I have wounds to attend to. That will then, be typically midday. Then I have a little bit of time probably about an hour or so, which I will then do paperwork or stuff on the computer to push my business forward.

Ben Kelly [00:17:03]:
Then become, then it’s lunchtime so their carers will come back and give me some food or and the laundry and whatever else needs to be done. And then I will have that will bring bring us to about 2 o’clock ish. Then I have typically between 2 and 4:4:30 to do more work towards my business, and then I’ll have tea. And then I will have more time to do whatever I want, really. Watch TV, more towards my business, answering inquiries between, probably that 4, 4:30, that will be take us to about 5 o’clock. And then between 5 and 9, 9:30, maybe 10 when the carers come back to help me to bed or tell me to get ready for bed if I’m already in bed. Yeah. That is the day to day.

Ben Kelly [00:18:12]:
Then if I am on network mid meetings, which are typically on the computer still, I would just cancel the relevant calls from the carers to allow me more time to go to those meetings. And and then they prepared, let’s say, food. Let’s say, it’s lunchtime. They will give me a sandwich or something in the morning, So I’m fully prepared for when they come, if that makes when when they should have come so I can have my sandwich after the meeting. When I get into my DJing, I typically, will cancel my tea and bed call. And then I will get up at lunchtime, get into my chair, go and do my my gig. And then at the moment, my dad, because it will then help me to bed, because, the care provision isn’t available, at 1 in the morning, 2 in the morning.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:19:21]:
Yeah. No. That that makes sense. That makes sense. And that that leads us neatly actually into exploring your business. So, obviously, we picked up. There’s entertainment. There’s DJ.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:19:33]:
What is your business, Ben? What what is it that you do?

Ben Kelly [00:19:36]:
So my business is BJK Entertainment Limited, and I’m basically I say basically because it’s changed. I am a DJ. So I serve personally from Staffordshire to Somerset, and I do everything from children parties, parties for adults, weddings, corporate events, and health and charity events too. So that is what that that that is me. But then we had the pandemic, and that killed all the business off. That literally stopped my business in its tracks completely. It wasn’t even allowed to do anything at all. I did 1 or 2 online parties, but it didn’t work because it just the interaction wasn’t there, so I didn’t do anything.

Ben Kelly [00:20:29]:
We were then let out to be able to do what we’re doing. Now prior to the pandemic, I started my my business in 2013. So I’ve had, like, up to that point, what what let’s call it 10 years 9, 10 years in business. I can’t do the math off the cuff. And so I had I had all that experience of doing that in person, did the DJing. And over that time, I’d met lots of other entertainers, singers, DJs, magicians, banks, castle, owners, and more. So the pandemic actually gave me a chance to press reset. Now reset, to me, I I launched a product called Party in a Box in, the pandemic in the early pandemic stages.

Ben Kelly [00:21:30]:
I, did something like £500 worth turnover of that, and that was brilliant. That was it gave me purpose again to try to do something with life. So I did that, and it it went brilliantly. But then, a company trademarked it, so I can’t do Party in a Box anymore.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:21:59]:
Oh, no.

Ben Kelly [00:22:00]:
What I’ve done is I’ve developed it further, and now it’s just a party box within my business that I sell as a product rather than the full name. Gotcha. So and we do those for all occasions anywhere anywhere in the UK because I can post it And for any event and for any any eventuality, I also designed party planners for all kinds of parties. So your wedding, your engagement, your kid parties, your your 21st, any kind of planners that you need within entertainment, I did that. I also, right. I I right. Well, I’m I’m gonna become a DJ again within that catchment area, and I absolutely do do that still. It relaunch is going great.

Ben Kelly [00:22:59]:
But then I realized that I’m actually because of the pandemic, I didn’t just, like, sit there and go, oh, I know what I’m gonna do. I network all over the country via Zoom and via online platforms. So I actually know a lot more entertainers all over the country. So now I organize special, I organize entertainment for special for for special occasions anywhere in the UK.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:23:32]:
Nice. Nice. And that

Ben Kelly [00:23:34]:
is why so now I’ve got the party boxes. I’ve got my DJ in. I’ve got that entertainment sorting that entertainment all over the over the country. And I’m also looking at equipment hire as well.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:23:50]:
So yeah. So covering the the entire entire range and, and helping helping lots of people, both customers, but also other entertainers as well, because you sort

Ben Kelly [00:24:01]:
of I’m sort

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:24:01]:
of bureau in in some way. Wow. That’s that is really impressive. I remember I remember the party in the box coming out and thinking, now that is a brilliant idea. Yeah. That was, as you say, right there, the pandemic times. So yet you have this pretty poor hand that you were dealt, and yet you’ve created all of this stuff, just in the last few minutes, because, obviously, time, unfortunately, marches away with with us as it always does. But I know everybody’s different and what works for one person isn’t necessarily gonna work for others, but it’s always interesting to see people’s approach and take on things.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:24:41]:
How did you, I mean, I know you’ve got a an attitude if you never give up, you you will you will always pursue what what you’re after. How do you how do you cultivate that mindset and resilience? Talk talk us through that.

Ben Kelly [00:24:55]:
So what I I now this might trigger a few people. I’m really sorry if it does. But I society has or did have this mindset of a disabled person not being able to do much. I I absolutely go against that. I I do not want to be seen as that typical disabled person that is just watching TV all day and didn’t do anything with their life. I I absolutely appreciate. There are some disabilities out there that can’t do as much as I can. That that that it’s it’s it’s own little catalafish on its own.

Ben Kelly [00:25:48]:
But I have a disability, and I can do something with with with me. I just can’t use my legs. Everything else works. Everything else is fine. But I just I just can’t walk. I have an electric wheelchair, and I refuse to be that disabled person that is just put in a room to watch TV all day. A bit of a a bit of a a bit of a funny side of it, really, I suppose. There’s too many repeat.

Ben Kelly [00:26:23]:
I can’t That’s true. I get bored after a while. So that is my motivation, and I’ve keep going and keep driving from the the best I can be because I don’t want to be that stereotypical person sat at home watching TV.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:26:43]:
I like that. What what what I’m taking from there is is you’re not coming from the perspective of, oh, woe is me. I’ve got all of the these problems. You’re coming from the perspective of, okay, this is what I’ve got. If I don’t, pursue my, my my ambitions and my dreams, if I don’t really work for it, it’s gonna be it’s gonna end up there. So that gives you the drive to go, you know what? I’m gonna create these things. I’m gonna do the best I can with with with what I’ve been given.

Ben Kelly [00:27:12]:
Absolutely. So my, part of my backstory is I I got into, web I thought I got into to entertainment because I I was voted on to the student union at the college because it’s disabled. Yeah. And that’s how I fell into it because they couldn’t get entertained. So I ended up, buying the equipment on the student but on their budget, becoming the in house DJ, and having 200 students who couldn’t get into time. And I created a nightclub feel on Canva. Yeah. So they so then and then from there, I got I went into, the Prince’s Trust Enterprise course to to learn to learn the business acumen.

Ben Kelly [00:28:08]:
They got my they gave me money to get my first equipment, and that’s how it that’s how the business started. But it was that initial 200 students Yeah. That that that couldn’t do couldn’t get in, couldn’t do things for themselves. Mhmm. That gave me the passion. Like, I get I get where these people are. Yeah. But I don’t want to be that.

Ben Kelly [00:28:35]:
I don’t want to be that typical because I’ve seen variants of disabilities. I don’t want to be I I don’t I I want to I want to, bust the the typical stereotypical. I I don’t want to be the stereotypical what people think is a disability in 2024.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:29:01]:
Gotcha. Gotcha. That makes makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense. Ben, thank you for taking time out of your day to to share your some insights into your story, share with us what you do, and and hopefully, it will, have inspired and motivated, people of all abilities to know that we can we can always play the hand we’ve got. We can always take what we have and create something something even more. For people who wanna find out a bit more, about you or about your entertainment business or who maybe even want to get in touch, what is the best way for them to do that then?

Ben Kelly [00:29:39]:
So I have a website, which is www.bjk Entertainment Limited dashltd.com. I also have a Facebook page which you can, search, which is bjk Entertainment Limited, dash your party, your way because I believe it’s your party. It should be your

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:30:05]:
way. Mhmm.

Ben Kelly [00:30:05]:
And, they have an email address of the same, the same there, but it’s just benat bjk entertainment limited. So the lcd dotco.k.ukau.com.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:30:24]:
Brilliant. Brilliant. All of those links, as always, are in the show notes for this episode. You You can get them by going to Keith Blakemore Noble, and look for the one with Ben Kelly. You’ll find, links to all his you’ll find all his links in there. Do check him out. Check out the website. Connect Keith him on Facebook, and have your party your way, as Ben says.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:30:47]:
Ben, thank you so much. Really appreciate you taking the time out to be with us.

Ben Kelly [00:30:52]:
No problem at all. It’s been absolutely a pleasure, and thank you for giving up your Saturday, for us doing this.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:31:00]:
Thank you so much. And thank you, dear listener, dear viewer. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. Hope you picked up a few tips. Do remember, give us a like, comment, share it. Subscribe on your favorite platform. Give us a review. It all helps.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:31:13]:
And until the next episode, take care, look after yourself, and, as Ben says, remember to have your party your way.