This post is geared more toward bloggers but the general principles, I believe, can be applied anywhere.

I can remember the first time I was contacted by a PR firm to review one of their client's products.  I felt like I was officially on "the map" even though I'm STILL figuring out the geography of what we call the blogosphere.

After that, more offers of product for review came trickling in and after a few months, I was fielding numerous pitches a day.  For some reason, I felt like I couldn't say "No" when pitched.  Looking back, it seems I had a subconcious fear that if I said "No", the PR firms wouldn't bother asking me again.  And at the time I thought that if I said "no", the person who said "yes" would replace me for all eternity.

But then I realized that throughout my network of what I like to call my "Awesome Allies", fellow bloggers that I count on for mutual support, advice, and knowledge-sharing, that I was doing all of us a disservice.

Now before you call me crazy, hear me out.  Sure, I used to do a lot of reviews about toys, kids and baby items, and consumer products.  However, those reviews aren't really relevant to what I normally write about.

I see my blog as constantly evolving and the feedback that I've gotten from my readers is that they read my blog to learn.  And what I'm teaching is what I know best:  marketing, branding, lessons learned to my quest for work/life balance, productivity, emerging web applications, social media and entrepreneurship...all from a mom's perspective.  So it would make sense that I would review products that improve my health and well-being for balance, gadgets and web applications, software, products for the home office, productivity tools, tech-savvy products for moms and business-related products.

And that's when I started saying "no".  Not only for my own sanity, but to remain consistent in what I offer my readers.  So, if you're a donut company, I can guarantee you that while I'm sure I'd think your donuts are tasty, I'm trying to be more active and fit to manage my stress and achieve balance.  Donuts?  They just don't fit into my conversation.

See what I mean?

And you know what?  By saying "No", that opens up an opportunity for someone who IS the right fit to say "Yes".  And that someone might not necessarily be on a high profile blogger campaign or on a list of who's who...YET.  But if that product fits their personal story and can seamlessly become part of THEIR conversation...everyone wins!

Another reason to say "No"?  Your voice will be stronger, your personal brand will gain more clarity, and you'll differentiate yourself.  And when you do say "Yes"?  It will mean more.

Let's say there are two actresses that have just arrived in Hollywood.  They're both working hard, going to several auditions a day and never missing an acting class.  Soon roles are offered, most are small supporting roles on night time dramas.  You know, the girl that gets killed at the beginning of the episode, the cop from the other side of the city.  Then they both get asked to do pilot episodes for two different networks.  The one immerses herself in the role, works tirelessly to meet with every member of the press that asks to talk about that one show, and is accessible to her fans.  The pilot gets brought on for another season and before too long she's ask to star in a blockbuster movie.  The other actress however, isn't sure if her pilot will get picked up, she takes on every small role she can because she wants to cast her net as wide as possible.  She turns down press junkets because of her other commitments to her small speaking roles in these other shows.  And after five episodes, the network is questioning whether they'll pick up the series or not.

Which actress most resembles how you're approaching your blog?

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