Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders

Tim Sanders is all about doing business with love or as he would call it “bizlove.” He’s a lovecat and wished to teach others how to become a lovecat. Now that might be sounding a bit weird but don’t be deterred. This book is a little book of gold with surprising practical value to be had.

It’s not all about free love nor will the value benefit those only looking to improve in business. It is a book about relationships, compassion and personal growth. It is a book that will help improve the success you wish to achieve and a book that will raise your levels of happiness. And it starts with love.

Tim uses Milton Mayeroff’s definition of love from his 1972 book On Caring: “Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the other.” It’s about being genuinely compassionate towards another’s success and giving unconditional value that will help them become the best version of themselves. When we assist others to grow we grow.

Tim further defines business love as the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles with your business partners or “bizpartners.” Our intangibles are knowledge, our network, and our compassion. For each of these, we all have the ability to improve, grow and share.

Tim would argue that the world is run on intangible values. Yes, tangibles like money, capital, and other tools necessary to do the work that matters are a part of the economy we live but they are tools. If we are without we often use them as a reason for our inability to succeed. Excuses not to take action.

Before tools even came into existence, before they jump into the hands of those that can benefit from them comes the sharing or our intangibles. The resources available to us all, time, attention, energy, focus, and love. How can we share these in a way that will assist others?

The knowledge Tim throws down in this book is timeless. It’s not new and it’s not hi-tech. He shares rich principles about creating an abundance of whatever we desire in life by simply focusing our attention on what we already now but perhaps take for granted or overlook because we are too busy and overwhelmed by dissatisfaction in our personal lives.

Tim focusing on each of these three intangibles in this book and shares his knowledge based on what he’s learned through research and experience.

The first is knowledge. We can all improve our knowledge and the best way is by reading. Tim will explain that he thought he had nothing to give and then he discovered reading. He didn’t start dropping value bombs immediately but soon enough the information he learnt he could share to his colleagues and clients in a way that provided them great value.

Reading – available to us all. There are tons of information available online at the click of a button. Books are now more accessible than ever before. Kindle copies can be picked up on the cheap, second-hand bookstores are a great place to shop and failing that, yes, libraries still exist. Read what you enjoy, share it with people in your circle without trying to force it down their throats, and in the process, you will further enhance your knowledge of the topic in expression and be supplying genuine value to others. Reading is awesome!!!

Focus on your network. We neglect our networks. I am so guilty of these. And not to sound bigger than I am but I have a huge network and I simply haven’t been giving it the attention it deserves. And the key lesson is that it’s not about what I can take from my network but what can I give.

What to give? Firstly, we can share the knowledge that we have learned. Secondly, we can connect our network. How can create value by making a connection with two people in your network? Tim is very elaborate in how to go about doing this – I’ll leave that to him.

Here is a quote that Tim points out by Dale Carnegie that summarizes relationships perfectly, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

Compassion is the final piece of the puzzle. We all exist with compassion but perhaps it’s just underdeveloped because it’s underused. Show genuine care, support and even sympathy for others. It’s not about false care or effort that’s is easily seen as an attempt to gain something in return, it has to be real. It has to come from a place of love.

I think we all are compassionate however I think we don’t practice it towards others as well as we could because we are not compassionate first towards ourselves. Be kind on yourself. Address the areas of your life where you are dissatisfied or experience some level of suffering and when you do you will be in a better position to give value to others.

I’ve read many books recently that are packed with scientific and academic research that is really great for getting deep into a subject area but not always practical. This book is kind of the opposite. It has enough knowledge and insight that we can all immediately apply in our lives that will bring postie results.

I have interviewed Tim Sanders on The Hidden Why Podcast – make sure you have a listen to our conversation here.

Coaching

If this book sounds of interest you can purchase Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends here.

Please leave your thoughts, comments & questions below.

Peace, passion and purpose…

Other books you might enjoy…

Further Reading and Resources 

TED Talks: Ideas worth spreading

Psychology Today: Psychology Today is devoted exclusively to everybody’s favourite subject – Ourselves

Life Hack: Tips for Life

Elite Daily: The Voice of Generation Y

Four Hour Work Week: How to escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich.

The Minimalists: How to pursue a minimalist lifestyle and be happier.

Mind Hacks: Tips and Tricks for Using Your Brain

Rich Roll: Plantpowered Wellness Advocate

The Art of Charm: Build confidence, feel comfortable and networking differently.

American Psychological Association: The largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United State

The Art of Manliness: Encouraging men to be better husbands, fathers, brothers, citizens.

Tiny Buddha: Simple wisdom for complex lives.

Brain Pickings: An inventory of cross-disciplinary interestingness, spanning art, science, design, history, philosophy, and more.

Mind Body Green: Lifestyle media brand dedicated to inspiring you to live your best life.

Zen Habits: Find simplicity and mindfulness in life.

Creative NonFiction: “true stories well told.” 

Addicted 2 Success: Motivation & Inspiration Website full of quotes and inspiring articles for entrepreneurs.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree: science-based answers and expert insight on how to be awesome at life.

The Positivity Blog: Practical articles on happiness, self-esteem, productivity and social skills.

Coaching