How This Simple Time Hack Transformed John’s Business Overnight!

In the heart of Maplewood, a small but lively American town, John Miller was the proud owner of “Miller’s Handcrafted Wonders.” His shop was a treasure trove of handmade goods, each crafted with care. But as the orders rolled in, John found himself drowning in endless tasks.   

Every day, he was up at dawn—answering emails, packing boxes, and wrestling with inventory spreadsheets. He was good at it, but his passion for creating unique products was buried under the grind of daily operations. One particularly exhausting afternoon, John sighed and muttered, “If only I had more hours in a day…”   

That’s when he heard the clink of a bell and turned to see a man standing at the counter.   

“Hours, minutes, seconds,” the man said with a knowing smile. “I deal in all of them. Call me Tom, the Time Trader.”   

 John blinked in surprise. “You… trade time?”   

 “Not literally, of course,” Tom replied. “But I teach people how to reclaim it. Care to learn?”   

Skeptical but curious, John nodded. Tom laid out three golden coins on the counter, each engraved with a lesson. The Freedom Cycle. The Playback Method., and  The Trust Test. 

— 

Lesson One: The Freedom Cycle. 

Tom held up the first coin, which gleamed in the sunlight.   

“John, how much is an hour of your time worth?” he asked.   

“I don’t know,” John admitted.   

“Simple math,” Tom said. “Take your yearly income, divide it by 2,000, then divide by four. That’s your hourly buyback rate—the cost of hiring someone to handle tasks that don’t require your creativity.”   

John scratched his head. “So if I make $80,000 a year, my rate is $10 an hour?”   

“Exactly! Now imagine hiring someone at that rate to handle your packaging or emails. It frees you to focus on what only you can do: designing products and growing the business.”   

Tom flipped the coin into the air, and an image appeared; John was designing a new product while an assistant efficiently packed orders.   

“The more you focus on high-value work, the more your revenue grows,” Tom said. “That’s the Freedom Cycle. Delegate, create, grow, repeat.”   

—  

Lesson Two: The Playback Method. 

Tom flipped the second coin. This time, it showed John recording a video on his phone.   

“What if I don’t know how to train someone to do my tasks?” John asked.   

“Ah, that’s where the **Playback Method** comes in,” Tom said. “Record yourself doing the task, step by step, as if you were teaching a friend. It doesn’t have to be perfect; just clear. Then, write down a checklist from the recording.”   

John imagined himself filming a short video about packaging orders. Later, the video became a detailed guide with steps like: Verify the order. Check the shipping address. Add a thank-you card. 

“With this guide,” Tom said, “anyone can replicate your work.”   

— 

Lesson Three: The Trust Test. 

“But what if I hire the wrong person?” John asked, frowning.   

Tom grinned and held up the third coin. “That’s why you start with a Trust Test. Give potential hires a small, simple task from your guide. Pay them for the work and see how well they follow instructions.”   

John pictured himself testing three candidates he found through a local job board. He asked each to package a mock order following his guide. One did an okay job, another excelled, and the last forgot key details.   

“Choose the one who communicates well and meets most of your standards,” Tom said. “Remember. Done well by someone else beats perfect and done by you.”   

— 

The Transformation. 

Over the next month, John applied Tom’s lessons. He hired Sarah, a sharp and reliable assistant, to handle customer inquiries and logistics. With the time he saved, John developed a new collection of leather-bound journals that sold out in days.   

One evening, as he relaxed on his porch with a sketchbook, Tom appeared again.   

“I see you’ve mastered the art of reclaiming time,” Tom said.   

John smiled. “I never realized how much freedom I could gain by letting go of things I didn’t need to do myself.”   

Tom nodded. “That’s the secret, John: when you focus on what you’re best at and delegate the rest, you don’t just grow your business—you grow your life.”   

With a tip of his hat, Tom disappeared into the night, leaving John with a newfound sense of balance and joy.   

And so, John discovered the ultimate secret of success: time well spent is a life well lived. 

Inspiration: BUY BACK YOUR TIME by Dan Martell 

In the heart of Maplewood, a small but lively American town, John Miller was the proud owner of “Miller’s Handcrafted Wonders.” His shop was a treasure trove of handmade goods, each crafted with care. But as the orders rolled in, John found himself drowning in endless tasks.    Every day, he was up at dawn—answering…