We were lucky to catch up with Ben Speakz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ben, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

It was actually in 2020. I have some very close friends who have built a very successful YouTube channel called “In The Clutch” over the years, and one of them, everyone knows him as Dub came to me with the idea to create another YouTube channel (Don’t Just Dream Prod.) catering to short films and skits. To do so he asked me to be a part of this new venture as a writer and assistant producer. So we sat down and he began explaining his vision and where he saw as the endgame and our ideas and visions aligned perfectly. At the time I’m already a poet and in school at Full Sail University obtaining my degree in creative writing for entertainment so I immediately jumped at the opportunity and the planning started from there.

Ben, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The name Ben Speakz was created about 4-5 years ago. This all started with me being a member of a 501c3 Performing Arts Non-Profit called Writer’s Block. I joined this organization just as a person who loves to assist with giving back to the community. The organization is full of artists such as singers, rappers, poets, writers, painters, creatives of all kinds. Me just being someone who assisted in the background kind of got talked into writing and performing a poem at one of our legendary open mics. At this time I have never written a poem of any kind but I was definitely up for the challenge. After I performed that night the crowd was very supportive and so were the other members of Writers Block so I then chose to continue the craft which has ultimately been the foundation of where I am today.

I took my craft very seriously from the beginning. It then led me to not only being a poet for myself but also for others. I offer services to perform at events of all kinds, poetry events and weddings being of the most popular. But, I will write or perform for just about anything that people want/need the art to be provided for.

I would say that my craft is very important to listeners just like music. A lot of time music and lyrics are used to touch others in some kind of way. If we’re being honest, music is nothing but poetry. I learned very early on that I want my words to touch and save lives. You never know what anyone could be going through in their personal life but your words can potentially save someone. And that’s what motivates me to continue doing what I do.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

It’s all about the work ethic. For me, I didn’t realize how much work you have to do to perfect your craft. For most creatives, when we are first starting out we are working full time jobs and then we use our craft as just a hobby. However, when you get invested into your craft you realize at some point that you could make a career out of it because we all can agree that we would like to wake up everyday doing what we love. But most people don’t understand the grind that has to come with it. Most people work a 9-5 job, get off and we’re tired from work all day, and then you have to get home, if you have kids and a spouse you have to make sure your house is taken care of and comfortable first, and then most people wind down and get ready for bed to do it all over again the next day. But when you’re grinding for something you want you have to then work after all of that is done. You may not get to working on your craft until 9pm-10pm sometimes later and you have to grind until your satisfied and sometimes that may mean staying up until 3am or 4am knowing you have to be up at 6am to get your day started. It’s ultimately all about how bad you want it and if you’re willing to do everything you have to do to get it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, its just as I stated earlier, I’m here to change lives. There have been many occasions where people have said that my poems have resonated with them or helped them in some way. One of the most recent was for a video we put out on our channel (Don’t Just Dream Prod.) which was geared towards spreading awareness on anxiety. And about a week after it premiered we received word from a friend that actually shot the video that he heard from someone saw our video and it kept them from committing suicide. And that there was just added confirmation for me and the people I work with to keep doing what we’re doing. The goal is to change lives for the better.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: ben_speakz
• Facebook: Ben Speakz
• Twitter: ben_speakz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4ZGF25rgIZsQloW-1iPhQg

Image Credits
@anthomedia_productions