How a Rebrand Gave Actor Meg Salisbury the Confidence to Book More Roles
In this episode, I sit down with my past client Meg Salisbury - an actor, model, and mindset coach - to talk about how her rebrand transformed her confidence and helped her book more roles. Meg shares what it was like investing in herself during her 'Glow Up Year,' the importance of branding in today's social media-driven acting industry, and what to look for when hiring a designer. If you've ever wondered whether outsourcing your branding is worth the investment, this conversation will show you exactly how it can position you for growth.
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Hello, World!
Before we dive into the episode, have we met?
I’m RuthAnn, the brand + Squarespace website designer behind the women-centered design studio, R Artspace.
Since 2016 I’ve been working with incredible women coaches and service providers with sophisticated branding and website design. I LOVE seeing women step into their next level of business growth with a brand and website that’s set up for their expansion.
On the personal side, I’m a wife, mama to 3 littles and we live in Kansas City, Missouri. So good to meet you!
RuthAnn: Hey friends, welcome back to the show. I'm so excited to be chatting with Meg here on the show. She has been such a friend and also a past client of mine and we went through her rebrand process and she's an actress and a model and so many fun things. So I'm really excited to talk to her about her entrepreneurship journey and also how her rebrand has played into the growth of her business and so many things from there.
But Meg, please tell us a little bit about how you got into acting and modeling, and then say how you got into entrepreneurship, because those two are a little bit different, but I would love to hear kind of the quick version of how those both got started..
Meg: Sure, sure. So I grew up acting. I did all the plays, all the musicals in high school. And then I went to college, to conservatory to deepen my acting skills and ended up majoring in musical theater, which was fantastic.
And then modeling has become more of like a recent venture. So been in the entertainment industry for probably about seven years now. I've really only been modeling for probably about a year, which is really not that long for the amount of amazing marketing materials I was able to get in 2025. And then I'm also a mindset coach for actors, which is a new venture I just started to probably about a year ago. I really specialize in
helping actors with nervous system regulation and subconscious reprogramming so they can take their careers to the next level. ultimately, I try to help them stop self-sabotaging their careers so they can show up fully to auditions and take that aligned action and really start booking the work that they're meant for.
RuthAnn: That's so fascinating. I feel like we can go on a little tangent about that, but tell me about this new venture you started. When we worked together, did you have that new venture at the time or were you focused on the modeling and acting?
Meg: I did have the new business, the coaching business at the same time we were working together, but it was really just getting started. I was working on my coaching certificate, really starting like the bare bones of the business part of it. So it wasn't quite ready to like dive into that business yet, but I was ready to take the acting and the modeling to the next level because I'd been working on it for so, so, so many years.
RuthAnn: Yes, and when we work together on your website you do have amazing galleries of images you have you know sound bites you have because you do voice acting as well so you had sound bites you had clips like movie clips and you had so many cool things to put into the website and so I think that's a great idea for an actress or a model to put it into a website. I just feel like some people wouldn't even think to do that. But I love that you did that because it is a great place for someone who's a director, casting director, to see all of your body of work in one place. And they could use you for other things that they didn't even know you offer. So I think that's very good on your part to do that.
But before we worked together, did you kind of set some stuff up on your own? Where were you in the process before you worked with me?
Meg: Sure. So I think brand is becoming more and more more important, especially in this career of acting and especially with like the emergence of social media and being able to really build a brand on social media. And so when I was in college, they taught us how to build like a really basic Squarespace website.
But I don't think that any of my professors would have anticipated that you'd be like actually building a brand on social media, which is really interesting. I think I had started building a brand before we worked together, but it because I'm a serial DIYer.
But what I realized is I kept like redesigning and redesigning and redesigning and changing the color palette and doing something different. So I really just kept doing the exact same, like three steps over and over and over again. And while I was kind of defining who I wanted to be and where I was going in that part of it was valuable. Like the actual like forward facing brand part of it was a mess. Like I had different guides with different like looks and it was really quite wild and I was very like new to designing as well. Like I just purchased a canvas subscription and I was just doing the best I possibly could. And I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned last year in 2025 was as an entrepreneur in my business, as well as my acting career is to outsource the things that you're not like designed to do so you can stay in your zone of genius more.
“And I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned last year in 2025 was as an entrepreneur in my business, as well as my acting career is to outsource the things that you're not like designed to do so you can stay in your zone of genius more.”
And that really made a huge difference in my year. Like I'm not fantastic at makeup, so I'm going to outsource that if I have a modeling gig. It should be the same as if you're an entrepreneur. If you're not a web designer, outsource it. Let somebody else do it for you. It'll be so much easier. I swear. I promise.
RuthAnn: I just want to say we all go through that DIY phase for sure, especially when you like just get a Canva account. You're like, I can definitely do this. So I just think that's just normal. I just want to normalize that. That's all of us have done that, especially it's so fun. It seems so easy. I think that's the thing about branding. It seems very easy, just like anything, just like acting, just like modeling. It seems so easy. It's like Oh, I could do that. Like no problem. But like once there's so much involved with it, there's technique, there's skill set, there's the natural talent. There's just so many things that go into being really good at what you do. And so I just want to say it's normal for us to go through those DIY phases.
And I remember you did, I think you reached out in 2024 about it and you didn't, we didn't work together until 2025. So what was the thing that was like, okay, now I'm finally ready to work together. What was the thing that made you ready?
Meg: Yeah, yeah. So I think I love the ability to save money. I always have like these financial goals that I'm working towards, which is fantastic. But I think when I reached out in 2024, I wasn't quite like I wanted to dip my toe in, but I wasn't quite ready to move forward.
And then when 2025 hit, I decided early in January that this was going to be my year. Every year I give the word for the year, like as like a through line for the year for myself. And my word for the year was investments. And I was like, this is the year that I am aware that I'm going to spend a lot of money, but it's going to all pay, but it's all going to pay off and pay forward. And I'm going to have major reward from it. So this year, what I want to do, I want to change my life in some ways.
So I'm going to invest and that's where we ended up in our journey is I was like, it's just time to invest. The package that you were designing at the time was like the perfect fit for me. We were able to kind of ease some of the financial insecurity in my brain by doing a payment plan. So it was all the things kind of like landed in place at the right time.
RuthAnn: I love that. And I do think it is a decision where you're deciding. I think that's one of the hardest things to do because so many times we can have these things that we want to do in our minds. Like, I would love to, you know, we just went through January. So like, I would love to lose weight in January or I would love to start working out. But unless you decide in your mind and make it important, like this is going to benefit me long term and I'm ready to do this. You won't really make those changes. And I do think it sounds like the same for you. You knew you wanted to make investments that were gonna change the trajectory of your business and your life and you decided. And so you just move forward. So I love that. That's so good. Yes, and I remember you coined last year, you said it like the year was called the glow up year, which I thought was so fun.
And I would love to know what other things did you go through in that year? You talked about doing other investments. What other things did you do that year?
Meg: So my investment journey actually started like bright and early in January. I remember there was this workshop, this model workshop that I wanted to do. And it was my first like legitimate model workshop without like besides getting headshots done.
And so I go, I’m gonna look at this, it was like $850. I was stressed out about it. I looked at it for four days. There was only 10 spots open and every day the spots were dwindling down and dwindling down. And by the fourth day I was like, this is the year of investments. I'm just going to do it. I don't have the money, but I'm just going to do it. And I went to that model workshop and that was like the first spin of the snowball going down the hill. And the photos that I got back from that were just like mind blowing from just that workshop alone.
And then I kind of decided that I wanted to make more and more investments. And so as kind of unexpected money came to me, started doing, I decided to go to Coco Rocha model camp and I got all these editorial photos that I had kind of been dreaming about, but didn't know if I was capable of. And I had like the confidence, I was able to build the confidence at Coco Rocha model camp to come out with these spectacular photos, which I was so stoked about. And I think that was around the time that we were starting to talk about.
We had signed and then it had taken us a while to get something on the books. So I think that was quite right around the same time because I remember sending all the photos to you and you were like, oh my God, these are perfect. Yes, this is exactly what I needed. Um, and so it all kind of just like snowballed down the hill from there, if that makes sense.
RuthAnn: I love that. So for all you visual people out there, I do have every single podcast episode I do. There is an accompanying blog post in the podcast page on my website. So you can go to our episode and you can see all of her beautiful photos. I'm to be showcasing your website and your branding and all that stuff. So if you want to see all the beautiful work we've done in her gorgeous photos, please head over there. But, and I'll link to that in the show notes, of course. but that is so cool, and I have to do a quick plug for your podcast, because the Coco Rocha model camp episode you did was so good. I just love listening to it. And that was just such a cool, like, behind the scenes take on, like, modeling and all that stuff. So I thought that was fascinating. Just from a fan point of view.
So did you have any fears going into the rebrand process?
Meg: So I had worked with a web designer before I had worked with Ruthann. And if I'm being totally honest, I wasn't really aligned with that designer, but they were more cost efficient, if that makes sense. that website still hasn't launched to this day. And I started that whole process like a year ago, over a year ago.
And we still have random contact, but it's really sparse and really strange. And I really don't like the design, but I'm like too worried to tell them that I don't like the design. It's really kind of a mess. And so I think my biggest fear going into it was actually making that initial investment, which sounds so funny because we've talked so much about investment already today.
I think I was worried about making another investment and getting burned in like kind of the same way. I have a little bit of a like a people pleaser tendency. So if I don't, and I didn't have this with you because I was just so blown away by what I got back from you. I was like, you nailed it. Absolutely. This is perfect. There's like, don't want any changes, but I have a hard time speaking up if I, if I don't feel comfortable.
And I was, definitely don't feel super comfortable with a designer and it shows and, what we have kind of created together that looks a little wonky to be honest. but if I had to give it somebody advice on like, they're fearing something, I would say, don't wait, just, just go for it because the return is always going to be so much more valuable than what you expect. If you're going into it with an aligned person.
or designer. Yeah, so as I was looking for a website, web designer for me, I had gone through other people's websites, I was trying to find something that I really liked or something that was laid out.
So is that kind of the advice you would give if someone's looking for a designer? What are the things you would tell them to look for as they're thinking about who to hire?
And I found somebody else that you had worked for, Whitney Uland, and I was scrolling through her website and the bottom of her website has web credits. And I was like, yes, yes, I know exactly who built this website now. And I went to your website from there and I was like blown away by, I don't remember what you call them, but they're like the little packages that you can click on on your website that like show what this brand might look like or what this brand might look like.
Those were so cool to look at and see the different ways you use color. And even just your website alone was really simple and clean, but feminine, but also not like too feminine, if that makes sense, like just the perfect amount. so when I, when you're looking for designers, I would suggest find somebody who is aesthetically really pleasing that you, that you would enjoy what, what their design looks like. And then.
The second part of that is being able to like hit it off with somebody too. When you're having that first initial conversation or when you're reaching out over email, making sure that like the actual energy that you're attracting is fits what do you want to create? Because we can attract like negative energy and it not fit what, which is where I'm at now with my other designers, it not fit what I'm looking for versus I could tell right away that we were aligned and what I wanted to showcase.
RuthAnn: Yes, that's so good. And I love that you brought up those two parts of it, because I do think it's so important that you love the designers work and what they do on their own website, but also in the portfolio, which is what you were talking about with the portfolio. You can click on the work I've done and then it expands into their whole, you know, what I've done for them. And you have to align on that.
And you also have to, like you said, have a good relationship, a good vibe, you know, when you are working with the person and feel like you can be honest and open, which is something I really strive for with my clients. I want them to be, they're not going to hurt my feelings. I want to know really what they think because they aren't investing a lot of money. It's a lot of money. It's, you know, people normally invest this once every five to 10 years. So this is not something that they invest in very often.
I want my clients to feel like they're heard in the process. And I've also had those fits with clients that weren't great fits and I think part of that is the aesthetics maybe weren't aligned because maybe the client and I hit it off but maybe they really wanted a different style that I didn't really offer that I was like, I think I can figure this. I actually had a recent situation with that but I was like, I think I can figure this out and then I ended up, it was just like a refund situation. I was like, I don't think I'm the designer for you. I thank you so much that you came to me with this but I don't. I can do this style and I'm just gonna release it and let you find someone else. And so I think it's so important to have those two things together. You have to have the aesthetic, you have to be aligned with their aesthetics and how they design and with them as a person. So I think that's great advice. great.
Meg: I have two other things too that popped into my head while you're talking. One of them is like, what's the maintenance going to be like after you build your website too? Like what I loved about our process was that you gave me the tools to be able to edit and create on my own, which is not always an option with a web designer is like, you don't always have control over the final, like, if you want to make changes, I mean, you don't always have control over making them yourself. Sometimes you have to pay somebody additional to make those changes, which I really loved was the ability to be able to do it on my own. And, geez, I lost the other thing, but that was one other thing.
RuthAnn: I have to say that's one of my biggest pet peeves in the design industry when designers are designing a website that's beautiful and then they hand it to the client and the client does not know what to do. They're like, I'm not even sure like how to go in and change this photo. That is such a huge, I just, it angers me a lot because
I think you are supposed to empower your clients to be able to take over when it's done. I think a good designer does that. And that's what I really try to do with my clients. So you do feel like you can go in and make updates and changes if you want to. um, and I also offer like month to month design support after we work together as well. So you can always like come for something you need. If you don't want to mess with it, you can always get that too. So that's how I deal with that. But, um, yeah, thank you so much for sharing those tidbits of wisdom for sure because yeah, not everyone knows that going into the process. That's great.
So what was a surprising thing that happened after your rebrand?
Meg: So I didn't expect this. I expected to feel more professional, which I did.
But I didn't expect to feel more confident. And like, and I mean more confident in the sense of I felt so much more excited to post on social media, so much more excited to share my website with people. Just like that confidence boost to be able to like almost step into this higher and better version of myself.
When you created my website, I really felt like you almost created like this higher identity of myself. Like you almost created this new identity for me to step into, which was really kind of magical and cool. And so it was nice to have that extra like little bit of confidence boost of I have this beautiful, gorgeous website too. Do you want to learn more about me? Here's where you can learn it.
“When you created my website, I really felt like you almost created like this higher identity of myself. Like you almost created this new identity for me to step into, which was really kind of magical and cool.”
RuthAnn: That is so true, that confidence piece, and it touches so much of what you do. It touches your energy, how you are reaching out for opportunities, what opportunities are attracted to you. So I do think it touches so many things to have that confidence, and I love that you had that after our work together.
Meg: Yeah, it was really magical, honestly. It gave me the opportunity to step into a higher level of myself and I think that's what we're all trying to do, right? As we're just getting better and better and better and growing in our lives and our businesses. And yeah, it was really wild. my gosh. So this is so cool. People would come up to me that I like knew in real life who followed me on Instagram or followed me around. And or followed me around. That sounded weird, but they don't follow me around.
RuthAnn: Paparazzi.
Meg: Paparazzi, the paparazzi would come up to me. People would come up to me and be like, I saw your new website and it looks fantastic. Or I saw your new marketing materials for blank and it looks awesome. Or I saw your new posts and they look so professional. And it just made me feel so proud of my website. That was like a big piece of this too was like being proud of like the artists that I've become and proud of where I came from and proud of where I'm going. And like just proud to be me as people kept giving me little amazing comments. It was so awesome.
So awesome. And it was really nice to hear that people were going just to look. These people weren't necessarily going to book me as a model or an actor, but they just wanted to see what I was up to. And that was kind cool to see that people are interested in. think a lot of the times we don't think about the people who are just kind of looking because they're our fans versus the people who are we're trying to attract to our website. It was cool to see just like the people who are like the fan base of people who are so proud of the final product.
RuthAnn: I love that. And that is what my heart is for is to help women really stand in their expertise and shine. And because they are so amazing at what they do. I mean, your photos, your clips, your I watched like all of your videos so many times of your acting is just so fascinating and awesome to me. But I mean, the women I work with are incredible at what they do. And they just need that brand to showcase it immediately. And that's what I love, when I get to work with someone and then we launch it out into the world. It's like, and then everyone can see what I see, what my clients know to be true. Like I'm really good at what I do actually, and I really want my brand and website to look like that. And that's what I love so much.
RuthAnn: How are you showing up with your new brand going forward?
Meg: I got a lot of irons in the wire. have a podcast, have a blog, I do my social content, I have an email newsletter. There's a lot of things happening this year. And so what I'm working on in terms of my brand is getting really, really sharp and consistent this year. I want to be able, I want to consume or I want to create more than I consume this year. And so I think...
A lot of the stuff that I'm working on this year is just creating consistent output so that I can just help more and more people out there. I want to help people if they're struggling in their acting career, I want to help them take that next level step. And so I'm just doing that by the consistency by creating like momentum, right? So just those little tasks that you do every day that keep you going because, you know, motivation isn't always accessible. It's that weird limited resource we don't always have. So, just working to build momentum and keep it consistent and just keep showcasing.
Actually, I booked four jobs after we released our website last year, which was really crazy. And like a span of a month, I booked four different commercials, which was, I was like, my God, my God, is it the website? Of course it's the website. It's gotta be the website. Yeah.
“Actually, I booked four jobs after we released the website last year, which was really crazy. In like the span of a month, I booked four different commercials.”
RuthAnn: Oh my gosh that’s amazing! Well, it's you for sure, but the website like leading the way. I love it. That is so wonderful. I didn't know that. That's great. That is so awesome.
So I just want to go back to what you said just a second ago: Create more than you consume. think that's such a good thing to live by because so many times it's just so easy to consume like too much. And I think it's awesome that that's kind of like a focus for you is like to just put out content that's helpful. And I think that's such a great focus and I can't wait to see what you do this year. So please tell everyone where they can find you. Tell them about your podcast and all the things.
Meg: Sure, sure. So you can find me on socials. I'm mainly on Instagram. I don't go on TikTok anymore. And you can find me at Meg Salisbury Creative. Another amazing thing that RuthAnn helped me do is come up with this amazing name because my business name before it was not good. We can't even share it. It was that bad. And you can find me on my website: www.megsalisburycreative.com. There's my podcast, my blog, all of the other things that you might need access to. And then hopefully we'll be building a mindset coaching website soon.
RuthAnn: Yes, I'm very excited about that. That's going to, I mean, just working with you is such a delight. So anytime I can get more of it, I'm all about it.
Okay, let's go into our Rapid Fire questions.
We just have three questions and anything is on the table, whatever you want to share. It's kind of up to you where you want to go with it, but let's start. So what are you loving right now?
Meg: I just started watching, actually two nights ago, Mr. Mrs. Smith with Donald Glover. And I am hooked. I watched the first four episodes and I was like, husband, we should watch this together. So I start watching it over again.
RuthAnn: What are you excited about in your business right now?
Meg: Well, in my mindset coaching business, I am starting to do workshops and starting to pitch to other podcasts to be a speaker, and that's going really well. I just did my first workshop last week, which is really, really exciting. And so I'm kind of excited to see where public speaking takes me.
RuthAnn: What is the biggest lesson you've learned in your business thus far that you'd like to share with other women business owners?
Meg: Sure, sure. Don't, I tend to be somebody who gets stuck in inaction and in fear and in self-sabotage, which is why I created my whole business to help actors get out of self-sabotage. And I find that the real issue was I was getting stuck. was aware I was stuck, but I couldn't get out of the stuck fast enough, like I couldn't figure out how to fix, I couldn't figure out how to get, I guess that's how you'd say it. I couldn't figure out how to get out of the stuck faster.
And so what I've learned recently is that in order to change where you're at, you've got to change your state. So we got to change how we're actually in this moment if we want to move out of that stuck mentality and into like a possibilities mindset. So just by changing your physical, like your physiology, you can change, you can move out of that self-sabotage behavior into that possibilities mindset.
And that's as simple as having some exercise, doing a power pose for a few minutes, regulating your nervous system. There's so many ways you can do this and it's so bio-individual and specific to whomever you are. But if you're stuck, change your state.
RuthAnn: I love that mic drop. I feel like that last question could be its own separate conversation for sure, but that is so good. We'll have to, I'll have to have you come on another time to talk about getting out of, know, how to regulate your nervous system and how to, you know, step into that next evolution of where you want to go.
Thank you Meg, thank you so much for being here today. I truly appreciate it and we will talk with you soon.
Meg: Bye!
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In this episode, I sit down with my past client Meg Salisbury - an actor, model, and mindset coach - to talk about how her rebrand transformed her confidence and helped her book more roles. Meg shares what it was like investing in herself during her 'Glow Up Year,' the importance of branding in today's social media-driven acting industry, and what to look for when hiring a designer. If you've ever wondered whether outsourcing your branding is worth the investment, this conversation will show you exactly how it can position you for growth.