May 24, 2025 • 24 mins
The wheels are finally turning, y’all—and this entertainment career of mine? Fully in motion. After months of prepping, building my portfolio, and putting in consistent behind-the-scenes work, I’ve hit a streak of wins that feel like pure proof that when focus meets aligned action... magic happens.
In this episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my very first agency meeting. I’m spilling everything I researched before walking through the door—from digging into their socials and poking around their website to prepping questions about exclusivity, market focus, and red flags. I’ll give you the full breakdown: the pros (personalized attention), the cons (a few broken links, yikes), and why I still said yes to the offer despite a few hesitations.
But we’re just getting started! I also got featured on The Model Workshop’s Instagram (!!!), booked a fire test shoot with the incredible Chelsea Bradway—think road signs, red pumps, and a jacket so good I had to buy it on the spot—and finally started building my acting website after putting it off forever. Shoutout to my dream designer, RuthAnn at RArtspace, who made it happen with a payment plan that actually worked for me.
The thread running through all of this? Intentional energy. When you commit to your craft, show up consistently, and trust your timing, the glow-up starts to unfold in ways you never expected.
Your journey might look different than mine, but the formula still applies: show up, stay ready, and trust the work you’re putting in.
Check out my Test Shoot BTS as well as my stylist, Brooke Kanal!
And as promised, here is a link to my digital porfolio, just incase you need to build one quickly just like I did!
✨ 2025✨ is about to be huge, and I want you to be part of this journey. Let’s glow up together.
🎭 Follow My Journey: Stay connected and get behind-the-scenes insights!
📸 Instagram: @megsalisburyofficial
🎬 TikTok: @megsalisburyofficial
Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with your fellow dreamers—we’re all in this for the long game!
Let’s glow up together—because your breakthrough moment might be closer than you think.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey there and welcome to the Glow Up Year.
I'm Meg, an actress and a model, and your go-to guide for what
it really takes to make bigdreams happen.
After six years in theentertainment world on camera,
behind the scenes and everythingin between I'm declaring this
year my glow up year.
(00:33):
This podcast is your front rowseat to my journey as I hustle,
learn and level up in real time,from auditions to photo shoots
to script breakdowns and behindthe scenes chaos.
We're diving into the ups, thedowns and everything in between.
If you're ready to chase yourown dreams, fuel your passions
(00:56):
and see if you have what ittakes to rise to the top, you're
in the right place.
So grab a coffee or a tea, getcomfy and let's glow up together
.
Hey there, friend, I am soexcited to talk to you today
because I have a ton and when Isay a ton, I mean a ton of
updates for you guys.
(01:17):
First off, I was featured on theModel Workshop Instagram page,
yahoo.
I was really curious to see ifthey were going to post one of
my photos or not and, if so,which photo, because I felt like
I had so many strong photos andthey posted one with my denim
on denim outfit with mytestimonial and I felt so
special and so loved.
(01:38):
And if you want to follow themodel workshops Instagram page
as well, the handle is the modelWorkshop Boston, so go and
check it out.
It was such a wonderfulexperience.
I can't speak any more highlyabout it.
But Yahoo, a little win.
I figured I'd start our podcastepisode off with a little win
that I had.
Also.
I submitted to three agenciesin the New England area with my
(02:04):
updated photos, just like I toldyou I would.
And guess what I heard back?
I heard back from three out ofthree agencies.
Yeah, baby go me.
So I put a lot of thought intothis and I don't know that I'm
going to share the agency names.
And the reason I'm not going toshare the agency names is
(02:27):
because, as I go to meetings, Iwant to give you a very clear
idea of what happens in eachmeeting and what my thoughts and
ideas were on the meetingsthemselves, as well as the
agencies.
So I'm not going to disclosenames because I want to give you
a really clear and honestreview of every meeting I go to.
With that being said, the threeagencies that I submitted to one
(02:51):
sent an email back saying thatit was going to be four to six
months before I was even able toget into their process.
That's just how long it takesto start their whole process.
So that is going to be on theback burner.
It'll come up in a couplemonths, but for now they are
interested.
They just are.
They're just starting theprocess and the process takes a
(03:11):
while.
So that was the firstcorrespondence I got back.
The second one said that theywere interested and we set a
meeting, but it took a while toset our actual meeting because
my schedule is a little busy andtheir schedule is busy as well.
So I don't have that secondmeeting until next month.
And then the third agency Iheard back is a smaller agency,
(03:33):
more boutique, but I had myagent meeting and I'm so excited
to give you a wrap up of whathappened today.
So I want to give you what I dostart to finish before agency
meeting for prep, what I didduring the meeting and what I do
after the meeting, just sowe're on the same page and I'm
giving you step by step guidanceof what I'm actually doing.
(03:53):
The first thing that I did wasmy research and my prep.
So I went on to the agency andI looked at their social media
and I looked at their websiteand I looked to see what types
of projects they were booking.
This is my honest review ofthis first agency, number one,
that I went and had my meetingwith In my research and in my
prep.
(04:13):
What I noticed was that they'renot very active on social media
, which isn't necessarily a badthing, but that they're a
boutique agency, so they're verysmall, which tells me they
probably have a small amount ofemployees.
So I wouldn't expect them tohave this major following or
(04:34):
this really intricate socialmedia marketing plan.
Because you're smaller agency,less employees, you do what you
can do and some stuff getsthrown in the back burner.
So first thing I noticed rightaway was they're not super
active on social media, which isnot necessarily a bad thing,
but not necessarily a good thing.
The second thing I noticed waswhen I went on their website, I
(04:54):
went through every single tab.
I looked at the other peoplethey represented.
I wanted to see if they hadanybody that looked similar to
me and it seemed that theydidn't.
But one thing I did notice ontheir website was some people
that I clicked on their linkswere broken and that made me a
little bit nervous.
I'm not going to lie, becauseif somebody's coming to book me
(05:15):
and the client's looking on myagency website and they push my
picture and they can't get anymore information, that is a
little stressful to me.
So ahead of time, I decided well, if the meeting goes really
well and I decide I'm going tosign with them, then this is
something that me, as thefreelancer, I need to pay
attention to and make sure thatmy link isn't broken when I'm on
(05:38):
the website, because do Ireally care if somebody else is
broken?
Yes and no, but what's reallymost important to me is is my
link broken If I go on to lookat myself?
Is my link broken?
Because that's something Iwould call my agency and say hey
, can you fix this?
Because this is not workingright now.
And I also came up with somereally basic questions to ask.
(05:59):
So when I got into my meeting, Ididn't feel unprepared.
Some of the questions that Iasked and that would be
beneficial for you to ask inyour next agency meeting is are
you an exclusive agent or areyou exclusive within a certain
range?
An exclusive agent means thatyou can't have other agents or
potentially other agents withina radius.
(06:21):
In this particular circumstance, this agent wouldn't really
conflict with my other agentsbecause they were across the
state line and they arenon-exclusive at all, which
means I can have as many agentsas I want.
And then the second questionthat I had prepared to ask was
what's your primary locationmarket Like?
Where are they booking jobs?
(06:41):
Where do they get the mostbookings within their market and
where?
I'm in New England, a lot ofthe local agencies in New
England book for all of NewEngland, which makes sense.
We're a tinier area.
This was a specific question forthis agency because, based on
my research I saw on yourwebsite and it looks like you're
(07:02):
more focused on modeling thanacting.
You seem to have tabs foreditorial, for beauty, for
runway and for lifestyle.
Is there one area that youfocus more of your time and
attention on?
And the answer that I got forthat was yes, they focus.
No-transcript.
The biggest market that theyhave is for lifestyle, which is
perfect because I fit intolifestyle the best.
(07:24):
That majority of the stuff thatthey're booking is like the
southern part of New England.
And then another question I hadfor them was do you book union
as well as non-union work, andso we had a little bit of a
conversation about what's thebenefits of union and what's the
drawbacks of union, and thisagency in particular did book
for both.
But for me it's best to saynon-union right now, that
(07:46):
there's just more work and moreopportunity for me as a
non-union model and actor.
And then I also wanted to giveyou some expectations, so
questions they would ask me thatthey would expect for me to
answer.
One of the things that I knewthey were going to ask me is
what are my stats or mymeasurements?
And so I made sure that Imemorized all of my stats and my
measurements for my body sothat when they asked I could
(08:08):
quickly rattle them off and Ididn't have to think about them
at all.
In preparation for my meeting,I also wanted to come up with a
few things, like if they saidtell me more about you, maybe
non-industry related things thatwere interesting about me for
the agent to know.
And one thing that I hadbrought up in my meeting was
that I paddleboard and that Ilove to go out on the water and
(08:30):
on the lake, and so findinglittle tidbits that are
non-industry related that youcan tell your agent about is
great as well.
The question I also wasprepared to answer was what is
your booking percentage and whatdo you book most mostly, and
for me, I'm about 50 commercialand 50 print, so just knowing
that information would be goodto know going into the meeting.
(08:52):
And then things that if you'realready represented, are good to
know as you go into a meetingtoo.
This is all prep still thatwe're talking about If you
already have an agent, thingsthat you need to know before you
go into a meeting with anotheragent, even if they're
non-exclusive, is are theyexclusive?
And you would find that bylooking back into your contract
(09:14):
and in my situation, the agent Icurrently have in the agents in
this agent that I was meetingwith were both non-exclusive,
which was great.
Another thing that would begood to know is are they your
mother agent?
You would also find thatinformation in your contract and
in my situation, neither one ofthese companies wouldn't want
to be my mother agent.
And then, lastly, a really goodthing to know is what are the
(09:36):
terms of termination?
So some agents in your contracthave terms of termination.
What is important about termsof termination is what you
actually have to do to terminaterepresentation, because if I
wanted to sign with this newperson and they were exclusive,
what would I have to do toterminate my representation with
(09:56):
my original company?
That process is usually aguided timeline in your contract
, so does that process take 30days?
Does that process take 60 days?
Is it instant or does you needa formal letter?
Do I just need to call?
So that was importantinformation that I looked up.
And also, maybe even moreimportant is is there a grace
period?
(10:17):
So some agents have a graceperiod where any booking over
the next one have a grace period, where any booking over the
next one three, six months theyget a percentage of.
So even if you're terminatedwith agency A and you're signed
with agency B now, agency Astill has potential rights to a
percentage of the income thatyou might make with agency B.
(10:39):
So you want to make sure thatyou know all of these things.
So this was all prep that I didbefore my meeting to make sure I
was prepared and ready to go.
And also, this particular agentasked for me to bring my
physical portfolio and right nowI don't currently have a
physical portfolio, so I made aquick digital one and I will
(11:00):
link it in the show notes belowso you can see what my digital
portfolio looks like and get anidea, if you need to build the
show notes below so you can seewhat my digital portfolio looks
like and get an idea, if youneed to build one last minute,
of what you can build.
I'm building my physicalportfolio here over the next
month so I will let you know howthat goes and give you an
update once my actual physicalportfolio is built.
And the last few things I didbefore I went into this agency
(11:23):
was I retook my measurements tomake sure they were still
accurate.
I memorized a monologue in casethey wanted me to showcase any
acting ability.
I looked at my portfolio and Imemorized all my photographers
and my stylists for each picture, in case they asked me the
question casually who was yourphotographer, who was your
(11:44):
stylist?
I knew exactly who everybodywas and I really just got
organized so that I walked intothis meeting feeling confident.
This is how my meeting went.
This was a longer drive for me.
I live up in Maine and so thiswas about a two and a half three
hour drive for me, and I was alittle more tired, honestly,
than I wish I was, which suckeda bit.
(12:06):
But I went into my meeting.
We had good conversation.
We talked for almost an hourand a half, which felt very long
for an agency meeting.
I would have anticipated it tobe 30 minutes, I think.
If I was giving myself criticism, I asked some questions that
seemed a little bit too specificand weren't appropriate for an
(12:28):
agency meeting.
When you're first meeting anagent, you know you're getting
to know each other.
I asked questions that maybewere a little too like you've
already signed me questions Likeonce you're signed, how do you
like to communicate with yourtalent?
Are you reaching out for myavailability?
(12:49):
Are you sending me submissions?
And then I'm replying to them,which I mean part of me feels
like isn't jumping the gun butis a little bit jumping the gun.
But at the the end of the day,the meeting it was definitely a
boutique agency.
It was small, but the personthat I met with seemed very
(13:09):
knowledgeable about the industry, seemed very happy to guide me
and give me information, verycommunicative.
Overall, I left feeling likethe meeting was positive and
like there was an opportunityfor me to get signed with this
person.
And one good thing about havinga boutique agency is it's
(13:31):
smaller right, and so they haveless clients they're not looking
to.
When you have a bigger agent,when you're submitting for a
project, they're submitting fivedifferent people from your
agency and you're all likefighting against each other to
get the role people with allwithin the same agency, versus
in a boutique agency.
You might get some, you mightbe the only person they're
(13:53):
submitting for the role.
It feels a little bit differentin terms of how, like, how it's
run and how you're treated asan individual.
So the meeting went well.
I drove home and he told me Iwould hear back in about a week,
and there were crickets forabout 10 days, and so I just
followed up with a reallyfriendly email hey, I'm just
(14:16):
reaching out.
I hadn't heard back from youyet and I just wanted to follow
up and see what your thoughtswere.
And he responded back quicklyand said hey, we are interested
in signing you.
Here's the contract, review it.
Let me know what you think.
It's pretty standard.
If you have any questions,reach back out, feel free and
we'll get this whole thing setup.
So, and he also mentioned thathe was in a really busy season
(14:39):
right now, and so I totally getit.
You know, sometimes things slipthrough the cracks.
Based on those few big concernsI had about, like the website
being broke, I want to give it ayear and I want to give it a
try and, worst case scenario, ayear goes by, I didn't book
anything with them and I decidewell, this relationship maybe
isn't working out for me and Iterminate the contract.
So I think I'm signing with anew agency, yahoo, yahoo, and I
(15:04):
will let you know how my nextagent meeting goes.
And the next thing that Iwanted to tell you guys today
was that I booked a test shoot.
So my agency reached out with aphotographer who was looking
for models for a test shoot.
I looked at the work and I wenton.
I researched the photographer,I did all the same types of
things that I did with theagency, you know, and I asked
(15:27):
them to submit my portfolio andthe photographer picked me, and
so I also had another great win.
And so I went and I did thistest shoot.
And so, for those of you whodon't know, a test shoot is
where a photographer and a modelget together and nobody gets
paid, so like they're not payingme and I'm not paying them, and
we create something that iscohesive for both of our
(15:48):
portfolios.
So if a photographer is missinga specific thing out of their
book, out of their portfolio,that they want to build,
sometimes they'll recruit amodel for free to build that
area in their book, and then themodel also gets the digitals,
and so they both get somethingout of the deal, even though
they're both going unpaid.
And so for this particular shoot, my photographer was Chelsea
(16:10):
Bradway, and she was amazing towork with.
She had these pretty redglasses.
I loved her energy.
She was so kind and so nice.
And my stylist, brooke Canal,was awesome too.
They were just incredible towork with.
It was a really cool concept.
Chelsea was having us hold uproad signs over our face as a
(16:33):
whole, like female empowermentthing.
But because we were holdingroad signs over our face, we
weren't going to actually beable to tell who we were in the
photos.
So in exchange for doing thisreally creative, like female
empowerment shoot for her, shegave us headshots, which was
fantastic.
So we got to start off withsomething that would build our
(16:53):
book as well.
I got some fire pictures.
Let me tell you I can't waitfor these to come back.
I'll share these with you, too,once they come back and they're
all finished.
Chelsea was so awesome Like Ireally can't say enough.
She just had such a greatenergy and was so fun to work
with and just made the wholeprocess great and, honestly, her
choice in music was fire aswell.
(17:14):
I started off in like a reddress with some red pumps for my
headshot photo and I think theycame out fantastic.
I did some really cool thingswith my feet I know that sounds
weird, but it's the true andthen we moved into like this
orange look with a jean jacket,construction boots with like a
(17:37):
detour sign over my face.
It was so cool and so awesomeand also, not to mention,
chelsea makes you feel so safe.
She's like if your arms gettired, we take a break.
If you feel uncomfortable, westop.
She's just so kind and generousto her models.
Not all photographers are sokind and so generous.
So we finished with that orangelook and then we moved into
(17:59):
this.
Oh my god, it was a black dresswith this like bomb ass jacket,
these like zip up white boots.
And I loved this jacket so muchthat I literally google lensed
it and found it online andbought it same day.
It was not not a cheap jacket.
(18:20):
It's going to be like the firstthing that I own.
That was like $400, but I gotit 50% off y'all, so don't fight
me, I got it 50% off.
I'm not upset about the amountthat I spent on the jacket,
because I loved it so much andit's going to be such a fun
thing to add to my wardrobe.
So I had a wonderful time onthis test shoe.
It was so great.
I can't wait to see the finalresults of that and, like I said
(18:43):
before, I'll share those withyou when they come back.
Extra, extra thank you toChelsea Bradway and an extra
thank you to Brooke Canal forbeing so incredible at their
craft and just really caringabout what the final product
looks like.
I also want to touch on todaythat I am starting my social
(19:05):
media.
I'm trying really hard to shiftinto like this new persona,
this like new part of me thatfeels happy and confident on
social media, and so my firstvideo is actually from that test
shoot.
So if you want a sneak peek andyou want to check out all my
looks, go check out my video onmy socials.
I'm at Meg Salisbury officialand you'll be able to see all
(19:27):
these outfits that I'm talkingabout before my photos even come
out in a couple of weeks.
And then, just in the nick oftime, I'm starting working on my
website for my acting business,and I think I talked about this
on my last episode, that thiswas a block for me, but I, like
I needed to do it, and it'ssomething that I just really
(19:48):
needed to start working on, andmainly because there's an agency
that I also want to submit to.
But I felt like I needed morematerials, and one of those
things was a website, and Ishould have had a website this
entire time, if I'm beingcompletely honest.
So I started working on mywebsite and it's been hard to
(20:08):
find time.
I'm not gonna lie.
It's one of those things that,like I, have more important
things to do.
It falls like deeper and deeperdown the list, and then
something magical happened.
I have been in talks with thisspecific designer for a while
and we've gone back and forth acouple times, but this person,
(20:29):
ruthann, is my dream designer.
Like dream designer, I justlove her work.
Her web design is justfantastic and it's beautiful and
it's clean and it's elevated,and it's clean and it's elevated
and it's luxurious and it'schic and I like it's just
(20:49):
beautiful.
I just am so in love with herwork and we we have been talking
for probably six months on andoff now.
She had a free giveaway.
I signed up for the giveaway.
Didn't make it, which inspiredme to start working on my
website on my own.
She reached out to me recentlyand really the main issue has
been the financial part of it.
She is so wonderful at hercraft but right now it doesn't
(21:15):
fit in my budget, which has mademe really sad.
But I've also clinged on to thefact that we will work together
in the future, like I knew.
I have always known that we aregoing to work together at some
point.
Well, she sent me an email.
She said I have an idea for you.
I'd love to hop on a call.
It's probably like the fourthtime that we've talked and as
(21:36):
soon as I saw her email, I wasso excited.
I was like absolutely, let'shop on a call.
I would love to.
I'm really excited topotentially work with you.
You know we've had such goodconversation every time we've
talked.
And her company, by the way, isR, art Space R as in the letter
, r, and then art space.
So if you want to check her out, go check her out.
We hopped on the call and shesaid hey, you know, I, I just I
(22:00):
want to make this work for you.
I want you to have this productthat really helps you grow and
helps your business grow andhelps you put yourself out there
to your best of ability.
And we had such a great meetingand she offered me a payment
plan that was within my budget.
For the first time, I'm gettinga product that's going to be
awesome, that I'm going to love.
I already know I'm going tolove it and she's still getting
(22:25):
fairly compensated for thebeautiful work that she does.
So I was so, so, so, so blessedand stoked that this magical
thing just fell into place forme, because I really, really
needed help with this.
I didn't want to admit it.
I wanted to just go and say Icould do it and prove to myself
I could do it.
But I really, really neededhelp with this, and so I'm just
(22:46):
so grateful to be able to workwith this new web designer to
design something that makes mefeel proud, to showcase who I am
and showcase my work.
That is the update, my friends.
That's all of it.
That's the update.
I don't have any more.
That's a lot of amazing thingshappening right now for me.
I got featured on the ModelWorkshop Instagram page.
(23:06):
I heard back from three out ofthree agencies.
I had a wonderful first agencymeeting.
They offered me a contract,which was awesome.
I had a really cool test shoot,which was super fun and
empowering.
I got to network with otherpeople.
I'm starting my social mediacampaign I guess, not campaign.
I'm starting my social mediadot dot dot in general, and my
(23:29):
actor website all fell intoplace over the last couple weeks
.
I'm so incredibly blessed and Iwant to point out that this is
what happens when you put yourenergy into the things that you
want, when you are putting yourenergy into practicing, when
you're putting your energy intocreating more within your life
and manifesting what you wantfor your dreams.
(23:51):
This is the result of all ofthe hard work I've been doing
mentally, emotionally andphysically to make this career
and make this year my best oneyet, and you can do it too.
That's it for today's episode ofthe glow up year.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
I'm seriously so excited tohave you along for the ride.
(24:13):
We're only just getting startedand the best, it's yet to come.
If you felt fired up orinspired today, hit that
subscribe button.
Leave a quick review or passthis episode along to another
dreamer in your circle.
Want some more behind thescenes pep talks or updates?
Come find me over on social atMeg Salisbury Official.
(24:36):
I'll be sharing more on myjourney there.
Links are in the show notes.
Remember your glow up isunfolding, one bold move at a
time.
Keep showing up, keep dreamingbigger and I'll catch you on the
next one.
Hey there and welcome to the Glow Up Year.
I'm Meg, an actress and a model, and your go-to guide for what
it really takes to make bigdreams happen.
After six years in theentertainment world on camera,
behind the scenes and everythingin between I'm declaring this
year my glow up year.
(00:33):
This podcast is your front rowseat to my journey as I hustle,
learn and level up in real time,from auditions to photo shoots
to script breakdowns and behindthe scenes chaos.
We're diving into the ups, thedowns and everything in between.
If you're ready to chase yourown dreams, fuel your passions
(00:56):
and see if you have what ittakes to rise to the top, you're
in the right place.
So grab a coffee or a tea, getcomfy and let's glow up together
.
Hey there, friend, I am soexcited to talk to you today
because I have a ton and when Isay a ton, I mean a ton of
updates for you guys.
(01:17):
First off, I was featured on theModel Workshop Instagram page,
yahoo.
I was really curious to see ifthey were going to post one of
my photos or not and, if so,which photo, because I felt like
I had so many strong photos andthey posted one with my denim
on denim outfit with mytestimonial and I felt so
special and so loved.
(01:38):
And if you want to follow themodel workshops Instagram page
as well, the handle is the modelWorkshop Boston, so go and
check it out.
It was such a wonderfulexperience.
I can't speak any more highlyabout it.
But Yahoo, a little win.
I figured I'd start our podcastepisode off with a little win
that I had.
Also.
I submitted to three agenciesin the New England area with my
(02:04):
updated photos, just like I toldyou I would.
And guess what I heard back?
I heard back from three out ofthree agencies.
Yeah, baby go me.
So I put a lot of thought intothis and I don't know that I'm
going to share the agency names.
And the reason I'm not going toshare the agency names is
(02:27):
because, as I go to meetings, Iwant to give you a very clear
idea of what happens in eachmeeting and what my thoughts and
ideas were on the meetingsthemselves, as well as the
agencies.
So I'm not going to disclosenames because I want to give you
a really clear and honestreview of every meeting I go to.
With that being said, the threeagencies that I submitted to one
(02:51):
sent an email back saying thatit was going to be four to six
months before I was even able toget into their process.
That's just how long it takesto start their whole process.
So that is going to be on theback burner.
It'll come up in a couplemonths, but for now they are
interested.
They just are.
They're just starting theprocess and the process takes a
(03:11):
while.
So that was the firstcorrespondence I got back.
The second one said that theywere interested and we set a
meeting, but it took a while toset our actual meeting because
my schedule is a little busy andtheir schedule is busy as well.
So I don't have that secondmeeting until next month.
And then the third agency Iheard back is a smaller agency,
(03:33):
more boutique, but I had myagent meeting and I'm so excited
to give you a wrap up of whathappened today.
So I want to give you what I dostart to finish before agency
meeting for prep, what I didduring the meeting and what I do
after the meeting, just sowe're on the same page and I'm
giving you step by step guidanceof what I'm actually doing.
(03:53):
The first thing that I did wasmy research and my prep.
So I went on to the agency andI looked at their social media
and I looked at their websiteand I looked to see what types
of projects they were booking.
This is my honest review ofthis first agency, number one,
that I went and had my meetingwith In my research and in my
prep.
(04:13):
What I noticed was that they'renot very active on social media
, which isn't necessarily a badthing, but that they're a
boutique agency, so they're verysmall, which tells me they
probably have a small amount ofemployees.
So I wouldn't expect them tohave this major following or
(04:34):
this really intricate socialmedia marketing plan.
Because you're smaller agency,less employees, you do what you
can do and some stuff getsthrown in the back burner.
So first thing I noticed rightaway was they're not super
active on social media, which isnot necessarily a bad thing,
but not necessarily a good thing.
The second thing I noticed waswhen I went on their website, I
(04:54):
went through every single tab.
I looked at the other peoplethey represented.
I wanted to see if they hadanybody that looked similar to
me and it seemed that theydidn't.
But one thing I did notice ontheir website was some people
that I clicked on their linkswere broken and that made me a
little bit nervous.
I'm not going to lie, becauseif somebody's coming to book me
(05:15):
and the client's looking on myagency website and they push my
picture and they can't get anymore information, that is a
little stressful to me.
So ahead of time, I decided well, if the meeting goes really
well and I decide I'm going tosign with them, then this is
something that me, as thefreelancer, I need to pay
attention to and make sure thatmy link isn't broken when I'm on
(05:38):
the website, because do Ireally care if somebody else is
broken?
Yes and no, but what's reallymost important to me is is my
link broken If I go on to lookat myself?
Is my link broken?
Because that's something Iwould call my agency and say hey
, can you fix this?
Because this is not workingright now.
And I also came up with somereally basic questions to ask.
(05:59):
So when I got into my meeting, Ididn't feel unprepared.
Some of the questions that Iasked and that would be
beneficial for you to ask inyour next agency meeting is are
you an exclusive agent or areyou exclusive within a certain
range?
An exclusive agent means thatyou can't have other agents or
potentially other agents withina radius.
(06:21):
In this particular circumstance, this agent wouldn't really
conflict with my other agentsbecause they were across the
state line and they arenon-exclusive at all, which
means I can have as many agentsas I want.
And then the second questionthat I had prepared to ask was
what's your primary locationmarket Like?
Where are they booking jobs?
(06:41):
Where do they get the mostbookings within their market and
where?
I'm in New England, a lot ofthe local agencies in New
England book for all of NewEngland, which makes sense.
We're a tinier area.
This was a specific question forthis agency because, based on
my research I saw on yourwebsite and it looks like you're
(07:02):
more focused on modeling thanacting.
You seem to have tabs foreditorial, for beauty, for
runway and for lifestyle.
Is there one area that youfocus more of your time and
attention on?
And the answer that I got forthat was yes, they focus.
No-transcript.
The biggest market that theyhave is for lifestyle, which is
perfect because I fit intolifestyle the best.
(07:24):
That majority of the stuff thatthey're booking is like the
southern part of New England.
And then another question I hadfor them was do you book union
as well as non-union work, andso we had a little bit of a
conversation about what's thebenefits of union and what's the
drawbacks of union, and thisagency in particular did book
for both.
But for me it's best to saynon-union right now, that
(07:46):
there's just more work and moreopportunity for me as a
non-union model and actor.
And then I also wanted to giveyou some expectations, so
questions they would ask me thatthey would expect for me to
answer.
One of the things that I knewthey were going to ask me is
what are my stats or mymeasurements?
And so I made sure that Imemorized all of my stats and my
measurements for my body sothat when they asked I could
(08:08):
quickly rattle them off and Ididn't have to think about them
at all.
In preparation for my meeting,I also wanted to come up with a
few things, like if they saidtell me more about you, maybe
non-industry related things thatwere interesting about me for
the agent to know.
And one thing that I hadbrought up in my meeting was
that I paddleboard and that Ilove to go out on the water and
(08:30):
on the lake, and so findinglittle tidbits that are
non-industry related that youcan tell your agent about is
great as well.
The question I also wasprepared to answer was what is
your booking percentage and whatdo you book most mostly, and
for me, I'm about 50 commercialand 50 print, so just knowing
that information would be goodto know going into the meeting.
(08:52):
And then things that if you'realready represented, are good to
know as you go into a meetingtoo.
This is all prep still thatwe're talking about If you
already have an agent, thingsthat you need to know before you
go into a meeting with anotheragent, even if they're
non-exclusive, is are theyexclusive?
And you would find that bylooking back into your contract
(09:14):
and in my situation, the agent Icurrently have in the agents in
this agent that I was meetingwith were both non-exclusive,
which was great.
Another thing that would begood to know is are they your
mother agent?
You would also find thatinformation in your contract and
in my situation, neither one ofthese companies wouldn't want
to be my mother agent.
And then, lastly, a really goodthing to know is what are the
(09:36):
terms of termination?
So some agents in your contracthave terms of termination.
What is important about termsof termination is what you
actually have to do to terminaterepresentation, because if I
wanted to sign with this newperson and they were exclusive,
what would I have to do toterminate my representation with
(09:56):
my original company?
That process is usually aguided timeline in your contract
, so does that process take 30days?
Does that process take 60 days?
Is it instant or does you needa formal letter?
Do I just need to call?
So that was importantinformation that I looked up.
And also, maybe even moreimportant is is there a grace
period?
(10:17):
So some agents have a graceperiod where any booking over
the next one have a grace period, where any booking over the
next one three, six months theyget a percentage of.
So even if you're terminatedwith agency A and you're signed
with agency B now, agency Astill has potential rights to a
percentage of the income thatyou might make with agency B.
(10:39):
So you want to make sure thatyou know all of these things.
So this was all prep that I didbefore my meeting to make sure I
was prepared and ready to go.
And also, this particular agentasked for me to bring my
physical portfolio and right nowI don't currently have a
physical portfolio, so I made aquick digital one and I will
(11:00):
link it in the show notes belowso you can see what my digital
portfolio looks like and get anidea, if you need to build the
show notes below so you can seewhat my digital portfolio looks
like and get an idea, if youneed to build one last minute,
of what you can build.
I'm building my physicalportfolio here over the next
month so I will let you know howthat goes and give you an
update once my actual physicalportfolio is built.
And the last few things I didbefore I went into this agency
(11:23):
was I retook my measurements tomake sure they were still
accurate.
I memorized a monologue in casethey wanted me to showcase any
acting ability.
I looked at my portfolio and Imemorized all my photographers
and my stylists for each picture, in case they asked me the
question casually who was yourphotographer, who was your
(11:44):
stylist?
I knew exactly who everybodywas and I really just got
organized so that I walked intothis meeting feeling confident.
This is how my meeting went.
This was a longer drive for me.
I live up in Maine and so thiswas about a two and a half three
hour drive for me, and I was alittle more tired, honestly,
than I wish I was, which suckeda bit.
(12:06):
But I went into my meeting.
We had good conversation.
We talked for almost an hourand a half, which felt very long
for an agency meeting.
I would have anticipated it tobe 30 minutes, I think.
If I was giving myself criticism, I asked some questions that
seemed a little bit too specificand weren't appropriate for an
(12:28):
agency meeting.
When you're first meeting anagent, you know you're getting
to know each other.
I asked questions that maybewere a little too like you've
already signed me questions Likeonce you're signed, how do you
like to communicate with yourtalent?
Are you reaching out for myavailability?
(12:49):
Are you sending me submissions?
And then I'm replying to them,which I mean part of me feels
like isn't jumping the gun butis a little bit jumping the gun.
But at the the end of the day,the meeting it was definitely a
boutique agency.
It was small, but the personthat I met with seemed very
(13:09):
knowledgeable about the industry, seemed very happy to guide me
and give me information, verycommunicative.
Overall, I left feeling likethe meeting was positive and
like there was an opportunityfor me to get signed with this
person.
And one good thing about havinga boutique agency is it's
(13:31):
smaller right, and so they haveless clients they're not looking
to.
When you have a bigger agent,when you're submitting for a
project, they're submitting fivedifferent people from your
agency and you're all likefighting against each other to
get the role people with allwithin the same agency, versus
in a boutique agency.
You might get some, you mightbe the only person they're
(13:53):
submitting for the role.
It feels a little bit differentin terms of how, like, how it's
run and how you're treated asan individual.
So the meeting went well.
I drove home and he told me Iwould hear back in about a week,
and there were crickets forabout 10 days, and so I just
followed up with a reallyfriendly email hey, I'm just
(14:16):
reaching out.
I hadn't heard back from youyet and I just wanted to follow
up and see what your thoughtswere.
And he responded back quicklyand said hey, we are interested
in signing you.
Here's the contract, review it.
Let me know what you think.
It's pretty standard.
If you have any questions,reach back out, feel free and
we'll get this whole thing setup.
So, and he also mentioned thathe was in a really busy season
(14:39):
right now, and so I totally getit.
You know, sometimes things slipthrough the cracks.
Based on those few big concernsI had about, like the website
being broke, I want to give it ayear and I want to give it a
try and, worst case scenario, ayear goes by, I didn't book
anything with them and I decidewell, this relationship maybe
isn't working out for me and Iterminate the contract.
So I think I'm signing with anew agency, yahoo, yahoo, and I
(15:04):
will let you know how my nextagent meeting goes.
And the next thing that Iwanted to tell you guys today
was that I booked a test shoot.
So my agency reached out with aphotographer who was looking
for models for a test shoot.
I looked at the work and I wenton.
I researched the photographer,I did all the same types of
things that I did with theagency, you know, and I asked
(15:27):
them to submit my portfolio andthe photographer picked me, and
so I also had another great win.
And so I went and I did thistest shoot.
And so, for those of you whodon't know, a test shoot is
where a photographer and a modelget together and nobody gets
paid, so like they're not payingme and I'm not paying them, and
we create something that iscohesive for both of our
(15:48):
portfolios.
So if a photographer is missinga specific thing out of their
book, out of their portfolio,that they want to build,
sometimes they'll recruit amodel for free to build that
area in their book, and then themodel also gets the digitals,
and so they both get somethingout of the deal, even though
they're both going unpaid.
And so for this particular shoot, my photographer was Chelsea
(16:10):
Bradway, and she was amazing towork with.
She had these pretty redglasses.
I loved her energy.
She was so kind and so nice.
And my stylist, brooke Canal,was awesome too.
They were just incredible towork with.
It was a really cool concept.
Chelsea was having us hold uproad signs over our face as a
(16:33):
whole, like female empowermentthing.
But because we were holdingroad signs over our face, we
weren't going to actually beable to tell who we were in the
photos.
So in exchange for doing thisreally creative, like female
empowerment shoot for her, shegave us headshots, which was
fantastic.
So we got to start off withsomething that would build our
(16:53):
book as well.
I got some fire pictures.
Let me tell you I can't waitfor these to come back.
I'll share these with you, too,once they come back and they're
all finished.
Chelsea was so awesome Like Ireally can't say enough.
She just had such a greatenergy and was so fun to work
with and just made the wholeprocess great and, honestly, her
choice in music was fire aswell.
(17:14):
I started off in like a reddress with some red pumps for my
headshot photo and I think theycame out fantastic.
I did some really cool thingswith my feet I know that sounds
weird, but it's the true andthen we moved into like this
orange look with a jean jacket,construction boots with like a
(17:37):
detour sign over my face.
It was so cool and so awesomeand also, not to mention,
chelsea makes you feel so safe.
She's like if your arms gettired, we take a break.
If you feel uncomfortable, westop.
She's just so kind and generousto her models.
Not all photographers are sokind and so generous.
So we finished with that orangelook and then we moved into
(17:59):
this.
Oh my god, it was a black dresswith this like bomb ass jacket,
these like zip up white boots.
And I loved this jacket so muchthat I literally google lensed
it and found it online andbought it same day.
It was not not a cheap jacket.
(18:20):
It's going to be like the firstthing that I own.
That was like $400, but I gotit 50% off y'all, so don't fight
me, I got it 50% off.
I'm not upset about the amountthat I spent on the jacket,
because I loved it so much andit's going to be such a fun
thing to add to my wardrobe.
So I had a wonderful time onthis test shoe.
It was so great.
I can't wait to see the finalresults of that and, like I said
(18:43):
before, I'll share those withyou when they come back.
Extra, extra thank you toChelsea Bradway and an extra
thank you to Brooke Canal forbeing so incredible at their
craft and just really caringabout what the final product
looks like.
I also want to touch on todaythat I am starting my social
(19:05):
media.
I'm trying really hard to shiftinto like this new persona,
this like new part of me thatfeels happy and confident on
social media, and so my firstvideo is actually from that test
shoot.
So if you want a sneak peek andyou want to check out all my
looks, go check out my video onmy socials.
I'm at Meg Salisbury officialand you'll be able to see all
(19:27):
these outfits that I'm talkingabout before my photos even come
out in a couple of weeks.
And then, just in the nick oftime, I'm starting working on my
website for my acting business,and I think I talked about this
on my last episode, that thiswas a block for me, but I, like
I needed to do it, and it'ssomething that I just really
(19:48):
needed to start working on, andmainly because there's an agency
that I also want to submit to.
But I felt like I needed morematerials, and one of those
things was a website, and Ishould have had a website this
entire time, if I'm beingcompletely honest.
So I started working on mywebsite and it's been hard to
(20:08):
find time.
I'm not gonna lie.
It's one of those things that,like I, have more important
things to do.
It falls like deeper and deeperdown the list, and then
something magical happened.
I have been in talks with thisspecific designer for a while
and we've gone back and forth acouple times, but this person,
(20:29):
ruthann, is my dream designer.
Like dream designer, I justlove her work.
Her web design is justfantastic and it's beautiful and
it's clean and it's elevated,and it's clean and it's elevated
and it's luxurious and it'schic and I like it's just
(20:49):
beautiful.
I just am so in love with herwork and we we have been talking
for probably six months on andoff now.
She had a free giveaway.
I signed up for the giveaway.
Didn't make it, which inspiredme to start working on my
website on my own.
She reached out to me recentlyand really the main issue has
been the financial part of it.
She is so wonderful at hercraft but right now it doesn't
(21:15):
fit in my budget, which has mademe really sad.
But I've also clinged on to thefact that we will work together
in the future, like I knew.
I have always known that we aregoing to work together at some
point.
Well, she sent me an email.
She said I have an idea for you.
I'd love to hop on a call.
It's probably like the fourthtime that we've talked and as
(21:36):
soon as I saw her email, I wasso excited.
I was like absolutely, let'shop on a call.
I would love to.
I'm really excited topotentially work with you.
You know we've had such goodconversation every time we've
talked.
And her company, by the way, isR, art Space R as in the letter
, r, and then art space.
So if you want to check her out, go check her out.
We hopped on the call and shesaid hey, you know, I, I just I
(22:00):
want to make this work for you.
I want you to have this productthat really helps you grow and
helps your business grow andhelps you put yourself out there
to your best of ability.
And we had such a great meetingand she offered me a payment
plan that was within my budget.
For the first time, I'm gettinga product that's going to be
awesome, that I'm going to love.
I already know I'm going tolove it and she's still getting
(22:25):
fairly compensated for thebeautiful work that she does.
So I was so, so, so, so blessedand stoked that this magical
thing just fell into place forme, because I really, really
needed help with this.
I didn't want to admit it.
I wanted to just go and say Icould do it and prove to myself
I could do it.
But I really, really neededhelp with this, and so I'm just
(22:46):
so grateful to be able to workwith this new web designer to
design something that makes mefeel proud, to showcase who I am
and showcase my work.
That is the update, my friends.
That's all of it.
That's the update.
I don't have any more.
That's a lot of amazing thingshappening right now for me.
I got featured on the ModelWorkshop Instagram page.
(23:06):
I heard back from three out ofthree agencies.
I had a wonderful first agencymeeting.
They offered me a contract,which was awesome.
I had a really cool test shoot,which was super fun and
empowering.
I got to network with otherpeople.
I'm starting my social mediacampaign I guess, not campaign.
I'm starting my social mediadot dot dot in general, and my
(23:29):
actor website all fell intoplace over the last couple weeks
.
I'm so incredibly blessed and Iwant to point out that this is
what happens when you put yourenergy into the things that you
want, when you are putting yourenergy into practicing, when
you're putting your energy intocreating more within your life
and manifesting what you wantfor your dreams.
(23:51):
This is the result of all ofthe hard work I've been doing
mentally, emotionally andphysically to make this career
and make this year my best oneyet, and you can do it too.
That's it for today's episode ofthe glow up year.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
I'm seriously so excited tohave you along for the ride.
(24:13):
We're only just getting startedand the best, it's yet to come.
If you felt fired up orinspired today, hit that
subscribe button.
Leave a quick review or passthis episode along to another
dreamer in your circle.
Want some more behind thescenes pep talks or updates?
Come find me over on social atMeg Salisbury Official.
(24:36):
I'll be sharing more on myjourney there.
Links are in the show notes.
Remember your glow up isunfolding, one bold move at a
time.
Keep showing up, keep dreamingbigger and I'll catch you on the
next one.
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