As we have conveyed in past blogs, anything we put our minds to gives us the ability to achieve what we once believed was impossible. From going to our dream college to starting our own business, every decision effects our ability to be successful.
Gary Oppedahl is the Albuquerque Economic Developer and day to day he comes across people who aspire to be something greater. Mr. Oppedahl is very passionate about entrepreneurship and when we found out we were able to interview him it was our chance to see what actually is going on in this city. This was a big interview for us and we weren't going to waste a single minute of it.
When we sat down with Mr. Oppedahl the first thing we asked him was, "Who can be an entrepreneur?" To our surprise without even talking to him about our project he said that one word that both of us were hoping for: "ANYONE." Knowing this man has been going through the ideas of entrepreneurship for years it was a great feeling to know that both of us had the same idea. As we continued on with the interview our main goal was to find out what goes through his mind when it comes to business. He said,
"Something I am very passionate about is the acronym known as P.O.W. This means to find a problem to create an opportunity to make the world a better place. See, it is not about the money at all but, sometimes the money just comes with it. The main thing I try to stress is entrepreneurs should want to help people first and foremost. Solving a problem to help someone else is all we should strive for and that is one of my main goals is to try and make New MexiCANT into New MexiCAN!"
We both stayed focused because Mr. Oppedahl was trying to convey a message that both of us felt we nailed in our project that anyone can be an entrepreneur if they really try and work hard to achieve their dream.
He continued to talk about his journey and his plans for the future and something he stressed is, "citizens of this city need to take a little more risk because we are still currently afraid to fail. What we must remember is when we have our biggest failures that is when we lead into some of our biggest successes." We told Mr. Oppedahl about our project and what we were trying to do and when he told us to continue interviewing as many businesses as possible we both knew we were on the right path.
Lastly, one of our biggest questions was what Mr. Oppedahl hopes for the future of Albuquerque and what he really wants to focus on. He continued to say that, "I love this city because anything we do is mostly from the bottom up. We strive for endless possibilities and make momentous gains from the little things. I hope to passionately focus on entrepreneurship and the benefits because our city is one of the best in the nation. There are other things like finance and marketing but, when it comes to entrepreneurship that is where I get excited because I know that anyone can do these unimaginable things and that is a great feeling!"
http://www.cabq.gov/economicdevelopment
http://web.abq.org/Government/City-of-Albuquerque-31
http://www.linkedin.com/in/garyoppedahl
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