Signal this week from Kenzie Collins - audience psychology, brand strategist.

I've said "getting back into it" about four times already this week.

To friends. To colleagues. To myself on a run at 6am (girl, nobody asked).

Somewhere around the third time, it hit me.

What am I actually getting back into?

Because here’s the thing about that phrase.

It feels a little too good to say.

There's no need to over-define what "it" actually is.

People will accept answers like "the gym," "posting regularly," "being nice."

Everyone nods. Great. She's getting back into it.

But at what point, Kenzie, are you in it? And what is it?

Well, since you asked...

Sometimes it is just a vibe I had in a different city.

Last year in LA, I was running a long-distance diary series.

Making ambition feel good again.

Celebrating my inner child with a POV series that spotlighted when she showed up.

It struck a chord. Flipped the script to make men feel seen, too.

It hit nearly 7M views.

I knew what I was building, who it was for.

The Signature Series. They were doing what all good ones do - timely, different tones, but all tied to my core pillars: self-awareness, growth, authentic living.

It wasn’t perfect. But it was a foundation.

A foundation with a save rate that competed with likes. It told me whatever I was doing, the unique stories I was sharing - they were worth coming back to.

Meanwhile, I was busy with the team creating a new offering that packages everything we know about building an impactful personal brand.

If daily conversations with clients weren't enough, this new project was the reminder.

I got back to Australia.

The long-distance series came to its natural end. Had all these grand visions of a post-distance rebuild series.

Does the hype wear off? What does reconnecting actually look like?

Then the early meetings were back. The alone time for content prep - gone.

Leaving the gap between training and a 7am call.

I should have known: a system that lives in your head falls apart the moment your life looks different.

Last week, I started a new series. Gave it a script.

20-30 clips from the last few months. Invested real heart into the VO. Posted it.

Crickets.

I'm used to them. I live in Australia.

But that doesn't mean I want them in my house. You know what I'm saying?

If you've done this gig for any length of time, you'll know that not everything hits. It's not personal. It's the rule of the game.

Here's another rule.

Memes. A clip that cuts to borrowed footage. A universal POV, some sort of set-up to landing, informed by conversations already happening.

They tend to work.

If you measure work in views, which sometimes we do…

But not before we look at everything else.

The meme I threw up the same week? 500k in under 24 hours.

Sure, I put my spin on it. I'm in the hook.

But that doesn't make it my IP. Or make it something I can compound.

I don't get a major kick from its creation. I don't finish and think, wow, I've really added something to the space.

You might get a laugh. Repost, follow, scroll on.

You may also never think of it or me again.

Back to the series that flopped.

Most people - me on a bad week - look at that and go: well, watch me never stand on a ledge again, folks.

Thanks for nothing. Back to Meme city.

But that's not taking accountability.

Here’s what that would sound like.

Of course, the episode flopped.

I invited the audience in at the exact hour I know they’re busy. Gave who did arrive the opening act instead of the main star.

Then wondered why they still slipped out for popcorn.

Wrong hook. Wrong setup. Wrong time. Wrong desire or pain point.

The way I framed the message just wasn't... it.

Not the grand "it" that opened this email.

The real lame "it" that sometimes you have to sit with, too.

That's what happens when you fall victim to "I just need to get it up."

That might work for a meme. Not for this.

Not for Bonfire content.

A bonfire needs the right room and the right intro. I gave it neither. Meme content usually finds its people regardless. Post it at 9pm, it'll still cut through.

Bonfire content is made for a specific person, and that person needs to be sitting down, coffee in hand, ready to go.

But even they (your people) don't have all the time in the world.

Lead with something that isn't for them, and they'll allocate it more wisely.

So would you.

The meme and the VO tell-all are two very different acts.

I gave them the same conditions to perform.

My job isn't to deem the new series futile. It's to go back and iterate.

You post once and give up on the entire concept… you're me, post-LA, floundering in haphazard drops.

We’re chasing me, mid-LA, building IP - remember?

Sam and I talked about this while I was there - said without a real system, it's a matter of time before you make these mistakes.

And here I am. Not exempt.

Proximity to the knowledge doesn't make you immune to the drift.

It just makes you faster at catching it.

We covered the top 10 social media mistakes creators make on The Authority Shift - go listen if you haven't. Refamiliarize, even if you have.

Spotify | Apple | YouTube

There's a new ep dropping this week with more lessons that'll land in your head first.

In your behavior next.

Closing the gap takes time. Even for someone who lives the strategy every day.

Caught the Hannahversary special last week, and I can't stop thinking about the advice Dolly Parton gave Miley before it all happened.

We're building the operating system that solves for everything I just described. It’s taught me the right way to look at failures, and the right way to measure success, too.

Consider this me doing exactly what Dolly said. Telling you before it's here.

But more on that soon.

For now, I'm back on the series train. And seriously, this time.

You see that reply button. It's how you tell me what you're getting back into.

A strategy? A series? Your face in front of the camera?

Whatever it is, I want to hear about it.

Chances are, you’re not in your flop era. You’re just jumping ship after EP01.

Head of Communications, 1DS Collective

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