A designer recently told me that she wasn’t interested in more business; that she had enough business and that she didn’t need to build a list to market to her ideal client. She knew where her ideal client was. Some designers are determined to get in their own way. But here’s what I’d like to remind you.

Customization is not a new trend. Research shows that millennials expect to be treated as individuals and are looking for brands that offer personalized products and experiences. As the marketplace shifts to cater to them, manufacturers are shifting too. At least some of them are and depending on your audience, that’s a good thing.

You may be quoted in the New York Times and get a flow of eyeballs to your website—maybe if the quote was that good—but was it in the right context? Will the right client invest in your services because of it? Or is it a fluff piece that diminishes your credibility? Similarly, not all online referral hubs and blogs are created equal.

Have you ever considered that your plans, strategies, way-of-getting-things-done are what are holding you back from getting what you want? Wait, what?

You’ve made the decision to go after something. You have a plan. You start to execute said plan and then something goes wrong, very wrong. In fact, it seems like that thing you want is even farther away than when you started.

Research shows that it doesn’t matter what your values are. The point is that you have them, because when your entire company is aligned around those values, it becomes more powerful.

Are you working at a pace that is making you numb to the consequences of your choices? Or worse are you unaware that the majority of your decisions are unconscious? Are you comfortable taking breaks during the day? Do you feel a strong sense of purpose at work? Are you in integrity with your calendar when it comes to keeping appointments with yourself? When you’re not in the performance zone, where do you spend your thoughts? Survival energy has been normalized in much of the culture of work but it is not sustaining.

I arrived home to a box from my publisher. Inside was a bottle of wine and a galley copy–my first–of my branding book Branding + Interior Design. As I’ve said before, this book wasn’t the book I originally started to write but it is the book it was supposed to be. It also represents the culmination of a lot of work, change, growth, and all that I’ve learned in supporting so many clients.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from designers is that they got published and nothing happened. Well, what did you expect to happen? Because the fact of the matter is that the nature of running an interior design business means that you’re going to have to get published, again, and again and again for it to really matter, for it to start to pay off in a way that is meaningful to your bottom line.

When you’re on the hamster wheel, the vacuum is a fast-moving circle of sameness that can only be sustained for so long until something gives. And it probably won’t be you, not anymore, because you’re exhausted.

Decorex International is a trade show for interior design professionals. Events for the 2016 conference include keynote speakers, panels, and exhibitors. The conference will be September 18-21 in Syon Park, London. Designing Brands 2.0 will be held on September 20 at 1pm BST with book signings by Martyn Lawrence Bullard and Kim Kuhteubl immediately to follow.