There’s a little P.T. Barnum in all of us. We all tend to think our hometown is the greatest show on earth. And while a good dose of hyperbole plays a role in burnishing a city’s image, businesses dig much deeper when making serious moves involving startups or expansions in new locations.

At Amarillo High School, I was required to take economics my senior year, like everyone else. If I'm being honest, I barely understood what was going on in that class and somehow finished with a good grade. I bet you're wondering how I ended up becoming the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation's intern. Let me explain...

Over the next few weeks, the Amarillo EDC will continue our Millennial Campaign, where we showcase distinguished young professionals in our community. The millennial of this month is Samantha “Sammi” Gallagher.

The Amarillo EDC and the West Texas A&M Enterprise Center is sending eight local entrepreneurs to represent our thriving business community at the INC. 5000 Conference & Gala in San Antonio in October. Each of the attendees has offered to contribute a blog about their experiences as an entrepreneur working in the Texas Panhandle. This is a guest post by Kim May, President of Nobox Creative.

The Amarillo EDC and the West Texas A&M Enterprise Center is sending eight local entrepreneurs to represent our thriving business community at the INC. 5000 Conference & Gala in San Antonio in October. Each of the attendees has offered to contribute a blog about their experiences as an entrepreneur working in the Texas Panhandle. This is a guest post by Alejandro Magallanes, President of Spirit Solz & EasyMath App.

If I were to ask you, the reader, to describe yourself, how would you start?

Male or female? An entrepreneur or an employee? A professional? A parent? Passionate? Quiet?

Now let’s make things interesting. If I were to ask your friends to describe you, how would they start?

The Amarillo community is brimming with generous volunteers, influential leaders and successful businesspeople. The people of Amarillo are what make our city unlike any other. With the AEDC guest blog posts, we hope to educate readers on our community as well as share valuable messages from Amarillo's key thinkers. This is a guest post by Dan Quandt, Vice President of the Amarillo Convention and Visitors Council for the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce.

So, say you have a product that has steadily increasing sales, now totaling over $870 million annually. This product is enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds, yet has easily defined specific niches that can really heighten the public’s desire to consume. In business, we call this a success story. In Texas, we call this Amarillo.

The Amarillo community is brimming with generous volunteers, influential leaders and successful businesspeople. The people of Amarillo are what make our city unlike any other. With the AEDC guest blog posts, we hope to educate readers on our community as well as share valuable messages from Amarillo's key thinkers. This is a guest post by David Terry, Executive Director of the WT Enterprise Center.

In 1995, as a senior business student at WT, I heard Don Taylor speak at an event on campus. Don had written his best-selling book, Up Against the Walmarts, which immediately thrust him into the category of sought after professional speaker and small business guru.

That day, Don Taylor inspired me. He challenged me to think entrepreneurially and to acquire entrepreneurial skills. Don ignited a spark that kindled a burning passion within me. In the years to come, through his vision and leadership, we would create something that continues to inspire innovation still today – the WT Enterprise Center.

The Amarillo community is brimming with generous volunteers, influential leaders and successful businesspeople. The people of Amarillo are what make our city unlike any other. With the AEDC guest blog posts, we hope to educate readers on our community as well as share valuable messages from Amarillo's key thinkers. This is a guest post by Gina Woodward, Regional Director at West Texas A&M Small Business Development Center.

Will you write a blog for us? Sure, no problem! Starts writing, scratch that topic. Repeat, repeat, repeat. That’s when it hit me…. maybe the most important thing isn’t HOW to do business, but WHY so many choose to do business in the Texas Panhandle.

The Amarillo community is brimming with generous volunteers, influential leaders and successful businesspeople. The people of Amarillo are what make our city unlike any other. With the AEDC guest blog posts, we hope to educate readers on our community as well as share valuable messages from Amarillo's key thinkers. This is a guest post by Aaron Sage, CEO of Sage Oil Vac and co-owner of Femco Drain Solutions.

As an entrepreneur and business owner, my fingers quiver even at the thought of typing out the word, f-a-i-l-u-r-e. The word failure conjures thoughts of final, fatal, tragic. The end of a brave fight of a failed business. However, I must remind myself, failure is not always catastrophic. Small failures from calculated risks show you the right way. To get past the negativity of the word failure, the word setback will be used from here on out.

The Amarillo community is brimming with generous volunteers, influential leaders and successful businesspeople. The people of Amarillo are what make our city unlike any other. With the AEDC guest blog posts, we hope to educate readers on our community as well as share valuable messages from Amarillo's key thinkers. This is a guest post by George Herring, Manager of Facilities and Site Support of the Amarillo Military Assembly and Delivery Center at Bell Helicopter.

“False motivation is still motivation!!”  — my drill sergeant at Fort Knox

My drill sergeants were great motivational speakers. I couldn’t understand a lot of what they were saying because they were yelling it at me while I was doing push-ups, but I do remember being motivated. One philosophical gem I remember regarded motivation itself: False motivation is still motivation!