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Mushrooms, alternative alcohol, digital health and merch have been four of the fastest-growing sectors for startups and small businesses in the past year. Here 99designs by Vista CEO Patrick Llewellyn talks to Karen Tiber Leland about some of the global trends that have emerged on the design platform and among its customers and community.\\xa0\\xa0

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Trends among fastest growing sectors for startups and small businesses

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• A platform like 99Designs by Vista reaches communities far and wide and it has given people new opportunities that they otherwise wouldn\\u2019t have had in their small town. People with disabilities have also found a new purpose.
  
  
• There\\u2019s been a surge in design requests from the wellness sector, plant-based alternative foods, and mushrooms!
  
  
• Local businesses are taking opportunities to create merch (which means more need for creative designs!) to increase revenue in their business.
  
  
• Personalized designs that incorporate the brand\\u2019s personality are on the rise. People want to see the \\u201cwho\\u201d behind the brand.

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About Karen Tiber Leland

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Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

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Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

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Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

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About our guest

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Patrick Llewellyn is CEO of 99designs by Vista, the global creative platform that makes it easy for small businesses to work with professional freelance designers online. 99designs has paid out more than US $400m to its creative community to date, working across brand and logo design, packaging, web design and more. Founded in 2008, 99designs has grown from a small, online forum into a worldwide community of talented designers that is now part of Vista, which includes VistaPrint and VistaCreate.

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Resources

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Karen\\u2019s book The Brand Mapping Strategy was just produced and released on Amazon\\u2019s Audible as an audiobook. You can now get an audio version of the book read in its entirety by Karen.

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The Brand Mapping Strategy, Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand