The Glow Up Year

Did I Just Break Up with Auditions?

• Megan Salisbury • Season 1 • Episode 4

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Let’s talk about something that’s totally flipped the game for me.
I used to believe I had to audition for everything—every breakdown, every opportunity, every maybe-fit role. But let’s be honest: that mindset is exhausting and lowkey soul-crushing.

Here’s the plot twist: my best gigs? They didn’t come from the hustle of constant auditions. They came from clients who found me directly through my agency’s site. Yep—they picked me.

That realization changed everything. I stopped scrambling for roles that didn’t feel aligned and started getting really intentional about the ones I say yes to. I’m no longer bending myself to fit every part—I’m finding the parts that actually fit me.

This isn’t about doing less. It’s about doing it smarter. It’s about taking back some power in an industry that often feels like a never-ending audition room. Already this year, I’ve turned down multiple auditions that didn’t feel like a match—and instead of feeling FOMO, I felt free.

Outside of that shift, I’ve been leveling up in other areas too—adding fresh e-comm photos to my portfolio from an amazing workshop, researching new markets (hey Connecticut!), and gearing up to update my demo reel. I’m building a brand that feels like me, not just checking boxes.

So if you’re an actor, a model, a multi-passionate creative—whoever you are—just know this: saying no isn’t closing doors, it’s clearing the runway for the right ones to open.

Stick around for more glow-up strategies, and remember: your next big move doesn’t have to be loud. It just has to be true. 💫

✨ 2025✨ is about to be huge, and I want you to be part of this journey. Let’s glow up together.

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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.

Speaker 1:

Hey there and welcome to the glow up year. I'm Meg, an actress and a model and your go-to for all things chasing big dreams and making them happen. After years navigating the entertainment industry on camera, behind the scenes and everywhere in between, I'm officially stepping into my glow-up era. Think of this podcast as your all-access pass to the real journey, from auditions to photo shoots, to script breakdowns and behind-the-scenes chaos. I'm bringing you the wins, the lessons and the moments that no one talks about. So if you're ready to bet on yourself, take bold action and see what it really takes to thrive in this industry, you're in the right place. Grab a coffee or a tea and get comfy and let's do this glow up together. Hey there y'all. We're back for episode four here. I hope you're doing fantastic. So the last couple episodes have been all about modeling, and if you're an actor listening and you're thinking where's all the acting that's happening this year, what's going on? Don't worry, we are going to get to it. Actually, the first two short films that I had booked for this year got cancelled or I guess they're not cancelled. Some of them got rescheduled, but the first one of the year was this really cool vampire short that I was recruited to act in based off of other performances I've done in other short films. And last minute the other actor just happened to have some health issues and so it had to get rescheduled. So we'll talk about that when it gets closer in the year. And then the 72 hour film festival got rescheduled this year too too. So the 72 hour film festival is really cool because you have to write, shoot, edit and submit all within 72 hours. So it's a really cool exercise in completing all of these tasks really quickly with a really high turnaround. So that's a fun artist challenge and that got rescheduled this year too. So as acting projects come up, you will be the first to know, and we are going to do an episode on demo reels. Stick around for that. I want to update all my marketing materials this year. That was one of my goals for the year. I am going to be updating my demo reel and I am going to take you through every step of the process. That will be coming up here shortly too, in the next month or so.

Speaker 1:

I also wanted to talk to you guys about my method for auditioning. This year I'm changing it up. This year I am trying something new and let me tell you what it is. Previously, what I've been doing is so I get an audition from the agency right, and then I read through the details, I make sure the project relatively fits me, that I would fit into their project, and then I record a tape and I send it in. That's what I've been doing and that has felt like I have been throwing spaghetti at the wall Because I've been doing so many auditions.

Speaker 1:

The ones that I'm booking are the ones I'm not even auditioning for. It's the ones where clients are looking at my agency's website and saying I want this person, I want that person, and I just happen to be one of those people. Those have been the jobs that I have booked the most frequently. So this year I want to make sure that the projects I'm auditioning for I really specifically fit into. Sometimes I'll receive auditions from my agency and I'll be like, oh, this isn't really my strong suit, but I'm going to audition for it anyways. Or this just doesn't really feel like it says they're looking for all ethnicities but it really feels like they're actually looking for a more specific ethnicity and that's not going to fit me. So instead of auditioning for every single thing that comes in.

Speaker 1:

This year I am handpicking, really specifically what I'm auditioning for, and maybe that sounds like a cop out, like I'm not booking so I'm going to avoid auditioning, and that is not what I'm doing here. What I'm doing is, honestly, I'm avoiding wasting my time. When there are jobs that I submit for that I know I'm not going to book, I'm not going to submit for them this year, I'm just not. It feels like a waste of my time. This is what the method I've been doing for the last year and a half that I've been with my agency and it feels desperate, almost like whatever you give me, I'll audition for it, like it feels like it's in the wrong energy and the wrong vibration, versus me getting a submission and going no. That doesn't fit my vibe, feels like it's putting me in more control than what I've had in the past.

Speaker 1:

And you know this is an industry where we really don't have much control over what's going on around us. You know we don't. We don't really control whether we book the job right. That depends on the other people who audition and it also depends on the casting directors and the directors and all of those other things the agencies, your resume depends on all of those things. So it's not a factor that's in my control, and so this year I'm just really specifically picking the jobs that I'm auditioning for, and I have turned down four or five auditions already this year because I felt like they didn't actually fit me, and I want to be auditioning for jobs that I that fit me, not that I fit into, and I also promised in the last episode that I was going to tell you guys how I was going to use my digitals from the model workshop in my portfolio and to submit to agencies and how you can use your materials in multiple ways.

Speaker 1:

Once these photos are completed and they're retouched, obviously I'm going to send them to my agency and they're going to put them in my portfolio. When I'm looking at my portfolio, I want to make sure that it feels really well-rounded, that has a little bit of everything, so that when people are looking at my portfolio to book me, they can see that oh wow, she's really versatile and she already has experience in the area of expertise that I am currently booking people in the model workshop. Photos are going to fill a huge hole in my portfolio and that hole is e-commerce. I don't have any photos of me in my portfolio where I'm modeling clothes or where clothes are the focus or the product. So it's going to fill that gap in my portfolio, which I'm super stoked about.

Speaker 1:

I'm also this year to expanding my representation, so I want to essentially find a couple more agents in a couple different markets so that I have a broader net where I'm fine tuning what I'm putting myself out there for, because if agency A sends you a submission for an audition and agency B also sends you the same audition and you book it, who gets the 20%? It gets kind of complicated. So I'm looking at other markets right now and trying to see what is a good market for my body type and my personality and what I bring to the table. Right now I'm looking in Connecticut, but I have about four or five agencies right now that I am also going to use my photos from the model workshop to submit for representation from these other agencies. I also want to use these photos for self-promotion as well. So on Instagram platforms, facebook, all of those things, as well as my website, which I'm building this year too.

Speaker 1:

If we're actors and we're models and we're creatives, at the end of the day nobody sees our work unless we put it out there right. And these photos represent me and what I can do, and so I want to put those out to the world in some form or other, whether that's just putting it on social media or creating a reel or putting it on my website, whatever that means. I also have a business website, and so they'll probably go on there as well. And also, when I get the gallery and the gallery is like complete and I get my completed photos back, I am going to drop a link in the show notes so that you can see the photos that I've been talking about for the last four episodes and you can have like a reference point of what I'm talking about and you can get to see my denim on denim look and my pink sweater look. I think that would be fun to share and for you guys to feel like you are actually involved in the process and you can see what's happening with your own eyes.

Speaker 1:

Today is going to be a shorter episode, but, as always, thank you so much for being here and for listening. It's been so fun and there's so many cool things we got coming on the horizon and I'm excited to get going and to give you more strategies and steps and tips along your way as you glow up this year as well. And that's a wrap on this episode of the glow up year, and this journey is just getting started and I'm so glad you're here for it. If today's episode gave you a little extra motivation, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with a fellow dream chaser, because we're all in this together. And if you want more behind the scenes moments, updates and inspiration, come hang out with me on social media. Remember, your glow up is always within reach. It starts with just one bold move. So keep showing up, keep believing and let's make some magic happen. Until next time.