Escape Roadmap is a step-by-step live cohort where I will teach you the proven systems and tools that I used to go from a 9-5 corporate worker to a full-time photography/content creator in under 2 years.
"It was by far the best investment I could have made in my life. It helped me live the life I want to live doing what I love most, photography."
Rodrigo, Cohort 1
My name is Ben, aka Life Through Optics, and I have made it my mission to help people just like you to take their love for photography and content creation and turn it into a thriving Photography Creator business.
In less than two years, I developed a powerful method that I used it to build my personal brand to over 900k+ across all platforms and make a total of $163,561.36 in 2023 as a Photography Creator.
After finishing university and finding myself desperately stuck in a 9-5 corporate job for six years that I hated, I decided to take all of my skills/experience and turn it towards finding a way out using my passion for photography and content creation.
And that's when my life changed for the better.
After capturing over 150,000 images, completing over 250+ photoshoots, posting over 1,400 times on social media, launching 10+ product & service offerings, and having a corporate career as a Senior Project Manager and Lecturer, I have poured all the knowledge that I acquired throughout my journey into this cohort to empower the next wave of Photography Creators.
It's the same method used by the fastest growing Photography Creators…
The tools, systems and strategies that I shared with them enabled them to build and monetise their photography/creator businesses with a powerful personal brand at it's core, allowing them see sustainable and consistent growth.
"If you're on the fence about it, do it. This is by far the best investment you could make in yourself if you're looking to grow your photography creator business..."
"Ben is an incredibly inspirational person to me, and I learned a lot from him in this workshop. It helped me get more clarity and also gave me a lot of motivation."
"It was by far the best investment I could have made in my life. It helped me live the life I want to live doing what I love most, photography."
To build a business out of doing what you love so that you get to wake up each day, be in control of your own time and do what you love to do.
To feel stuck and to have come to the realisation that the life that we have built for ourselves just doesn't feel right...
I was in a six-figure per year job that on paper was more than I could ever ask for.
But deep down I felt unbelievably trapped and I started to feel like the life that I had built was meant for someone else...
I didn't know why I felt this way, but it was enough of a push for me to start trying to understand myself a little more.
I discovered that somewhere along the way my idea of success changed...
I no longer wanted to climb the corporate ladder and I hated the person that I was becoming as a result.
Instead, I wanted to turn a passion into my job and be in full control of my own time.
I wasn’t sure what I was truly passionate about though.
So I started searching, and that’s when I discovered photography.
I had never felt this strongly about something before and all of a sudden I made the decision that it was going to be a massive part of my life.
In December 2021, I bought my first camera and set about learning all I could.
Then in February 2022 I started taking photos every weekend and posting content everyday on social media to document my journey.
And I stuck at that for 1 year before I started to really see any sort of progress.
Fast forward to November 2022, I was really enjoying my journey but I wanted to get serious about the business side of photography and social media as a way to replace my 9-5 income and achieve my idea of success.
So again, like I did in the early days of my photography journey, I went into knowledge acquisition mode.
I learned so much about the business side of photography, social media strategy, building service and products offers, marketing myself as a photographer, etc.
I combined it with all the experience I gained in my 9-5 job, and it was time to send it!
Throughout 2023 I relentlessly pursued my goals and the plan that I had put in place. Late nights, early mornings, mental battles, all while working my 9-5... but in the end it was all worth it!
I managed to quit my 9-5 job:
In 2023 I went from 3k followers to 530k followers on Instagram.
And made $163,561.36 as a result of my photography business while working my 9-5 job.
It was the hardest I have ever worked in my life, but to now be living life on my own terms and doing what I love everyday, it was worth every second :)
To craft your plan and unlock the Photography Creator mindset.
Your custom roadmap and a bulletproof mindset to help you get through any challenge.
To train you in the art of consistent content and social media growth.
A solid foundation of sustainable content practices and audience growth to scale your personal brand.
To get you making money as a Photography Creator as fast as possible.
Teach you the skills you need to generate revenue with freelance clients and digital products.
To train you on how to scale the your business and give you ongoing support.
Systems to scale your business and access to support so we can all keep getting better together.
Column 1
@mypicturesbox
Dai joined the Escape Roadmap with an audience of 20k+ followers on Instagram and he was struggling to work out how to monetise his business.
In the last few months though, with the content strategies that he learned from the workshop, he’s been able to grow his audience to over 120K+ which is absolutely massive progress in such a short time!
He was able to post daily using the strategies for consistent content production and come up with unlimited ideas using the idea generation techniques.
He’s also about to launch his first ever digital product and we expect that he’ll bring in $2k+ in his first month (and that’s a conservative estimate).
Column 1
@downshift_collective
Jay joined with 140 followers, his progress and growth was stagnating, and was initially a little unconvinced that what I would teach him would actual work.
After the workshop though it only took him one month 10x his audience and get to 1,000 followers.
And then 3 months later after implementing the content strategies and consistent content techniques he made some massive follow gains and jumped up to over 27k followers.
He also successfully launched his first digital product making his first sales, along with being featured by Sigma Australia, and building his freelance income streams!
It's been less than six months since the workshop and he has made massive progress with even more to come over the following months and years.
Column 1
@andrinbuergler
Andrin decided to jump into Cohort 1 with 139 followers and was yet to monetise his business after discovering his passion for photography and content creation.
He was still very early in his photography journey and was struggling to find direction after completing high school.
After I shared all of the tools, systems and strategies with him during the Cohort he went straight to work implementing everything that he learned.
Now less than 6 months on he has built an audience on 16K+ followers, launched his first digital product offer making his first sales, developed and grown his freelance offers and has a roadmap to scale his business even further!
Introducing...
Escape Roadmap Live Cohort
I went to university. It sucked.
I worked a 9-5 corporate job for 6 years. It sucked.
So now I have built my own educational platform to help people avoid my mistakes, escape the job that they're stuck in and build a life doing what they love.
That's why I called it Escape Roadmap.
Over the last 6 months, after two cohorts and 130+ students later, I have refined this program into the single best live curriculum available to people wanting to turn their love for photography and content creation into a business.
It is everything that I desperately needed when I first started out that could have taken me from being stuck in my 9-5 job to going full-time as a Photography Creator in a fraction of the time.
I truly believe that anyone is capable of doing what I have done if they're armed with the knowledge and systems that I wish I had when I was beginning my journey.
I decided to create this program because there was no one in the Photography Creator space that was willing to share this sort of knowledge with me.
How they made money and built a business using their passion was always a mystery to me and seemed to be shrouded in secrecy, but I made a promise that when I figured it out I'd share it with whoever willing to put in the work and truly commit.
Proven systems and frameworks to build a roadmap that will turn your passion into a business.
How to develop a consistent content foundation that ensures you never run out of ideas and content.
How to build the bulletproof Photography Creator mindset for guaranteed success.
The skills needed to start and scale freelance services to quickly earn money with your camera.
Strategies to authentically and sustainably grow an audience of true fans that support your journey.
How to monetise your audience and diversify your income streams so you can work how/where you want.
How to create, market and sell amazing products and services that people will happily pay for.
How to scale and grow your Photography Creator business to support yourself full-time.
If you're ready to go all-in on your passion and build a life where you get to wake up and do what you love everyday, keep reading...
What's included in Escape Roadmap
Join me live as I take you through all of the program curriculum step-by-step teaching you everything you need to know about taking your passion for photography and content creation and turning it into a business.
Each lesson includes Q&As where I will respond to every single question and provide you with the personalised guidance that you need to solve your specific problems.
All live lessons and Q&As are fully recorded so that you can tune in whenever you would like.
Lesson slides are also included along with video chapters so you can easily following along if you miss out on attending live.
Section 1: Plan
Define your escape plan, goals, financial position and key factors for success.
Section 2: Grow
Develop your consistent content muscle and learn strategies and tools to maximise your efficiency as a Photography Creator.
Section 3: Monetise
Learn how to effectively monetise your business and social media through freelance service and product offer creation.
Section 4: Refine
Iterating on content strategy/business machine and strengthening service/product offers.
Monday
Kick Off Call
8am AEDT
Complete student onboarding.
Tuesday
Live Lesson #1
8am AEDT
Wednesday
Activities
Begin workbook activities mentioned in Live Lesson #1.
Thursday
Live Lesson #2
8am AEDT
Friday
Activities
Work on activities mentioned in Live Lesson #2.
You have lifetime access to all live recordings, so don't worry if you miss the sessions!
Recordings are uploaded immediately after the session.
Escape Roadmap Student Workbook
The Escape Roadmap Workbook is designed to make sure that you aren’t just consuming information but actually taking action and moving toward your goals. You will get a series of templates and tasks to complete in between and after our live sessions to guarantee that you make progress. If you focus on completing these tasks and execute on everything, it's impossible for you to not get results.
Escape Roadmap Private Community
Get access to the Escape Roadmap community full of other Photography Creators who are on the same journey as you. Ask questions, make friends, form business partnerships and network. You shouldn’t walk alone on this path. And that’s why the community will be there for ongoing support and for you to get inspired and motivated when you need it.
Escape Roadmap Pro
Escape Roadmap Pro includes everything from the standard version of the program and is designed for people that want to make the most progress in the shortest amount of time possible.
6 x Weekly Live Group Masterclasses.
Each week for 6 weeks we'll have exclusive Escape Roadmap Pro masterclasses aimed at diving into even more detail on everything covered in the standard program.
Unlimited Access To Me Via Slack (Voice & Text).
Access to chat to me and your fellow Escape Roadmap Pro members to quickly have questions answered and receive support when you need it to solve your problems fast.
Join A Small Community Of High-Calibre Photography Creators.
Get access to a small group of individuals that are all on the same journey as you. This journey can be a lonely one and you shouldn't walk it alone. Level up together.
My Personal Templates & Resources
Steal all of my Notion templates, time management frameworks, and productivity systems that I use to run a six-figure Photography Creator business.
Free Enrolment In All Escape Roadmap Cohorts.
Automatic enrolment in all Escape Roadmap cohorts so that you can jump back in whenever you need a refresher or to access the most up-to-date curriculum.
Free Access To All LTO Products & Workshops
Download any current and future products free of charge and join any of my future workshops or mini courses to keep building your knowledge base alongside me.
If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me at ben@lifethroughoptics.co. I'm here to help!
Secure your place today
Escape Roadmap Live Cohort
2 Live Lessons
These are the lessons that will make up the cohort. This is where you'll learn everything you need to build a thriving Photography Creator business. They are live but are also recorded so you can watch anytime.
Escape Roadmap Private Community
Everyone who enrols is given exclusive access to Escape Roadmap HQ. A private community full of past cohort alumni. One-time fee and unlimited access. Surround yourself with Photography Creators on the same journey as you.
Escape Roadmap Student Workbook
Immediately after enrolling you'll receive your Escape Roadmap workbook which includes access to templates and guides to help you implement the systems I'll be teaching. Homework projects are also included to speed up your learning.
If you have any other questions, email me at ben@lifethroughoptics.co. I'm happy to help.
I'm not sure what to say...
I thought I would be able to convince you by now!
So this is my last effort.
I want you to take a deep breath and imagine yourself 10 years from now.
What does your life look like?
What are you doing for work and how do you feel while you're going about that work?
Have you become the person that right now you fear becoming?
Trapped in a job that you hate with no options but to push through the next 20-30 years until retirement.
You let go of that silly idea that you had about travelling the world taking photos and creating content for thousands or even millions of people to enjoy.
That all seems like a distant memory now... but after a long and terrible day at work, the though of "what if?" pops into your head, and then this feeling of regret starts to creep in.
Regret that you never even tried in the first place.
Ok, come back to the present day. That was getting a little too intense.
If any of that has left you with an upset stomach, it's ok because that's exactly how I used to feel when I imagined my life stretching out in front of me when I was working my 9-5 job.
Because of that feeling I knew that I had to try and make my dream work.
So that on my deathbed when I'm an old man I never have to wonder "what if?".
So if you're ready to try and make this work, we can work together so you can find out what is on the other side of life outside of all the expectation, outside of the conventional path and in a place where you get to wake up each day in full control of your life.
The choice is in your hands.
"It was by far the best investment I could have made in my life. It helped me live the life I want to live doing what I love most, photography."
Rodrigo, Cohort 1
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