Knowing When To Say ‘No’

So for the majority of my life I have been a people pleaser, and to some extent I still am. But there was something in me one day, one year that snapped and I decided I had to stop. I was exerting so much energy towards things that I didn’t even want to be doing but I either would have had FOMO or I felt like I was letting someone down.

Brand worked with in featured image above – NAKD FASION

I will never forget one new years, my resolution was to say no to more things. My brother stared at me and said “what”. Now, looking back I probably phrased this wrong as a resolution, I could have phrased it as “I want to do more things that make me happy” or “focus more on myself”. But I knew myself and I knew deep down I was putting too much energy in a portion of my life that did not make sense.

This was probably in two or three years ago I decided to do this and I still find myself at fault for some of this because I miss a friend, or because I feel like I should do something but where I draw the line (and I AM still working on it) is working with brands.

About 2 years ago when I started my novice blogging career I was accepting product for post which is an awesome way to start! And honestly, when I first started it, I loved it. I was getting FREE stuff to POST about it on my blog and instagram— how cool!

As I have come along and am by NO MEANS where I want to be, but hey we need to celebrate our small wins, I have waltzed into the pay per post space where it is a whole other ball game. There are conversions and formulas to figure out what exactly your PPP should be etc.. (more on that to come).

So down to the nitty gritty about working with brands.

If you were to take away one piece of advice from this article it is to KNOW YOUR BRAND and WORK WITH LIKE BRANDS.

Exhibit A: If I were a fashion blogger, I wouldn’t work with a plumbing brand to help promote their newest devices.

Yes, I know the price can be enticing and you might really want that money to cover your up and coming bills, but you need to think about your brand long term.

I myself have been a victim of my own advice, I have sold out for shots and accepted the money, but the lesson that I have learned is that it HURTS. It is actually detrimental to your brand in the long run. If a DREAM brand such as @hellomolly was checking out my profile and saw that I worked with a plumbing company just to promote their products why would @hellomolly want to work with me if I was promoting something not like their brand at all.

If I was promoting something I didn’t believe in, such as plumbing products, what message would that give to my audience. That I don’t care? That I am a sell out ? No one wants that ! We all want to be able to build a community and build a brand that is trusted. To do this, we need to post products that we believe in and stay true to ourselves.

More about this on an upcoming post about building a community.

My personal story:

A few months ago a small company asked me to create some content for them and post it on my page. I agreed as I was getting paid and I wanted to help them out. When I received the materials I realized I had no where to shoot them and the weather was awful for all types of shoots. The weather would not match my vibe on Instagram so I didn’t want to even post it. I was getting so frustrated with myself because I had agreed to something I did not think through.

I didn’t think if the aesthetic would fit my brand. I didn’t think about the time of year for pictures. I didn’t think about the work I was putting in in exchange for the payment. I just agreed because I wanted to do someone a favor.

This ended up kicking me in the butt because I was the one stressing out.

My takeaway: always evaluate the brand on multiple ends before agreeing to work with them.

Working with a brand checklist:

• Does this brand fit my image?
• Is this the correct time of year to collaborate with the brand? (i.e. weather outside)
• Do I have any upcoming trips I can use to shoot with this brand?
• Am I getting what I REALLY deserve (i.e. payment for your creation)
• Is this a reliable company? (do your research)
• Has there been good communication between you and the outreach manager?

I hope you find this checklist useful and use it for your future collaborations and partnerships!

ps. If you guys have questions, DM them to me on my Insta (here) and I will answer them within 48 hours 🙂

Xx,

CLB