Cat Howell quotes: the Facebook ad agency expert discusses f-bombs, overcoming perfectionism, learning to love yourself, and more.
“They don’t f*cking show you this stuff in school.”
“[I’m] living for a living.”
“I smile because I’m free. I laugh because I’m uncensored. I’m happy because I f*ck up. I dance because I’m alive. I love because I see myself in you. I thrive because I choose to be.”
“Everything physical is a vibration. Reality is in fact just made up of wavelengths and vibrations. Your thoughts and emotions can change those vibrations and therefore your reality. But changing your thoughts is often easier said than done. I’m going to put myself up as a guinea pig to show you exactly how I do it by building a strong frequency around an area in my life I am currently struggling with. The principles shared are exactly the same for success, money, weight loss.”
“I used to be a perfectionist. I would overthink everything and every move and agonize over logo placements and font sizes. And my success suffered as a consequence. In hindsight, I now realize that perfectionism is a procrastination tactic – a fear to put your work out there and have it bomb.”
“Yesterday someone pointed out a mistake in one of our funnels. I took a screenshot, sent it to the team, and moved on. Because the reality is that my funnels are full of mistakes, blunders, grammar errors, broken links, and horrible retargeting sequences.”
“I don’t even have a proper email marketing strategy. I just f*cking bomb everyone with whatever verbal vomit comes out that day.”
“Three years ago this would have really bothered me. I never would have dreamed of going live with anything unless it was short of perfect. I would have agonized for months over the fonts, colors, UX, and voice overs.”
“Listen. Life doesn’t give a sh*t if your pixel is seasoned or your URL is customized. It doesn’t care if you mixed up your and you’re. Or that half your face was cut off in the video. That your product packaging is award-winning. Or that you have a two star review. It really doesn’t.”
“All that matters is that you set your intentions and expect nothing else to happen than your desired outcome (without your mental or emotional health depending on this outcome). That you are in action.”
“Through the years, I’ve had the honor to be able to peek behind the scenes into some of the biggest companies there are – ones making over eight figures per month. I was shocked to discover they’re all pretty much duct taped together. Many of them don’t even have a CRM system or know their customer lifetime values. But they are in action, they have a vision, they build, and mend as they go. How liberating.”
“I know how hard it can be to relinquish perfectionism. You want to make sure everything you do is great. Hire those people [perfectionists] in your business, but don’t be one. Push play. Then fix the f*ck ups as you go.”
“Look back and see nothing to regret and nothing to correct.”
“They say diamonds take shape under intense amounts of pressure. This diamond… faced abuse, strip poles, drug use, broken hearts, suicidal tendencies, and more failures than she cares to count. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Remember, you are not the circumstances or challenges you’ve faced. You are not the things that have been done to your body or the way you look. You are not your bank account or the emotions you experience. You, are a f*cking diamond.”
“Let. Sh*t. Go.”
“As pathetic as this sounds, the reality is that most of us are restricting our own growth – afraid to lose the job, afraid to lose the money, afraid to say no, afraid to ruffle feathers – on a daily basis! So believe me, when I throw around the f-word or put out strange images… I’m not aiming for sensationalism. I’m trying to wake you the f*ck up! Like a good kick in the balls usually does. To listen to yourself.”
“What do you want? Allow yourself, without judgement, to strive towards that. Because perfection does exist, and contrary to what they might tell you, there’s nothing wrong, greedy, or evil with wanting it all. So question it all. Identify the rules and beliefs that serve you. And break all the rest. Fucken aye.”
“I used to suffer from imposter syndrome. Until I realized we’re all just bullsh*tting our way through life.”
“There’s so much smack-talking about the agency model these days. People (usually people who never owned or who’ve failed at successfully building an agency) trying to tell you to shift your industry or model. But here’s the thing – every industry has clients or customers to deal with. You can’t run from that. But the brilliant part about our industry is that we are fine-tuning our business and marketing skill set using someone else’s money! The only reason my businesses have succeeded so well is because I already knew exactly how to make them successful, and I learned that through working with clients on their business. So stop letting naysayers get in your head – the skills you’re building now are the ones that will take your income bracket to the next level in a year or two from now!”
“At the end of the day I’m kind of ‘stuck’ living with Cat for the rest of her time on this planet. And I can’t help but feel like our time together would be so f*cking boring if she conformed to everything. Sure, it might be easier. But we’re having way too much fun – we must be doing something right!”
“Who cares if people like or dislike you. All that matters is that you’re living this life excited to f*cking bits that you get to experience it with you – the coolest person on this planet, flaws and all! Start treating yourself as you would your best friend.”
“I’m fragile, vulnerable, strong, and unpredictable. I struggle to find balance between my humanity and consciousness. My only superpower is that I work within my core competence and that I believe big things are possible for me. That’s it.”
“Every opportunity needs to absolutely feed into your core competencies. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time and will only lead to burnout. What are the activities in your business that you are really good at, that – when you are doing – you tend to lose track of time and get so immersed and excited about? Those are your core competencies.”
“I still have no idea what I’m talking about.”
“Life is too short to have fun… said no one. Ever.”
