He Paid HOW Much? For a NOTEBOOK?!?

On this day in 1994, Bill Gates paid $30,800,000 for a notebook.

Granted, this wasn’t just any notebook. This was Leonardo daVinci’s “Codex Leicester.”

But still. $30 million!?!?

Nice work if you can spend it, Mr. Gates.

You had some big ideas in your day. You implemented, and you cashed in.

And then you bought some really cool stuff with your riches.

Leonardo? Not so much. He lived comfortably enough — thanks to some patrons who supported him.

But he never really cashed in. He never earned big riches.

One reason: He had a tendency not to finish commissions.

He left lots of unfinished works in his wake.

Like the “Adoration of the Magi.”

A bunch of monks in Florence offered him big bucks to depict the biblical scene above the altar of their church.

Leonardo dove into the project. He made dozens of sketches and a large underpainting on a wooden panel.

But he never finished it. He fiddled and fine-tuned. He inserted and modified. He chased perfection.

Within a year, he left for Milan, abandoning the commission.

So the monks hired Filippino Lippi to paint the “Adoration,” instead.

Leonardo’s unfinished painting hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Art historians call it a “masterpiece.”

Lippi’s version? Not as good. Not even close…

…except…

…it’s finished.

Leonardo was the superior painter.

But Lippi hit deadlines, shipped the goods, and – most crucially – got paid.

Today, we label Leonardo a genius and marvel at his works in grand churches and museums – “The Mona Lisa” at the Louvre in Paris, “The Last Supper” in the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and his incomplete “Adoration of the Magi” in Florence.

He may be the greatest artist of all time.

But back then, Leonardo was just another artist who hustled to cover his bills…

…and left lots of money on the table.

The bottom line: Leonardo had a perfection problem…

…and it cost him.

Don’t chase perfection.
Finish your work and ship it.
Don’t leave money on the table.

Remember that the next time you’re thinking, “I can’t start an email campaign because I’m not a strong enough writer.”

(You’re strong enough, or you can hire someone who is strong enough.)

Think of Lippi getting paid the next time you re-work content, again and again, because it’s “not quite there.”

(It’s there enough or you can hire someone who can quickly make it there enough.)

If you wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait…

…until your stuff is virtually perfect, you select inaction over action.

Then, like Leonardo, you will have a perfection problem that turns into a business problem.

p.s. If you’re ready to take action to grow your business, but you’re not sure how to do it, I have a proven PLAN you will like. I unveiled it in a live training last week. And I’m sharing the replay for a limited time.

If you’d like the link to the replay, reply to this email with “practically perfect,” and I’ll send you the link.

Important: The replay comes down at the end of this week so you’ll have to act fast.