Local entrepreneur Eric Greenspan plans to discourage students to become entrepreneurs when he visits City College to speak.

“I want to make sure all of them finish school and never become entrepreneurs,” said Eric Greenspan, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Make It Work, Inc. “Get a great job, live long and prosper, but do not become an entrepreneur … it’s the craziest thing in the world.”

Greenspan, 42, is this semester’s guest to share his back story at the Enlightened Entrepreneurship Series that is hosted by the Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at City College.

“We thought it would be appropriate to bring in somebody that is very successful but whose business is not nearly as large in scale and in size as the previous interviewees,” Bonnie Chavez, moderator of the event, said. “Plus he’s young, he’s very dynamic … his business is more what we call virtual. He’s doing things electronically on the net that are of interest to students. He’s very cutting edge.”

Even though the event serves as a real-life source to inspire college students to become entrepreneurs, the outcome of the conversation could be quite different.

“The only entrepreneur is the one that is sure, the one that knows, the one that wakes up in the morning and says ‘No, no, no … I can’t go to work for you because I don’t understand the way you do things; this is how it should be done,'” Greenspan said.

Chavez said that students can expect “the unexpected.”

Greenspan makes it pretty clear that being an entrepreneur is hard work and does not happily recommend students to become one.

“Only if they have an absolute burning desire to do so and they are certain that that’s what’s for them,” he said. “If they wake up in the morning and know exactly what they’re going to do, where they’re going to do it, which they’re going to do it with, how fast they’re going to go, then they should. At the same time though, I would want to make sure that everybody in the room understands that there is no free lunch and it’s a grind.”

Make It Work has previously been named the Software Service Company of the Year by the Software Council of Southern California, Best Of in computer repair by the Santa Barbara Independent and 6th Fastest Growing Company in the Tri-counties by Pacific Coast Business Times.

The event is free and will be held 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 at the Fe Bland Forum on West Campus. Business Administration Professor Bonnie Chavez will start by interviewing Mr. Greenspan for the first half-hour.

After the interview Chavez said he will “open the floor up” for students to ask questions.

“That’s very unusual because these folks don’t know what might be asked and they’ve agreed to answer any question that the audience may choose to ask them. And that’s really where a lot of the interesting things come out,” Chavez said.

Greenspan is also a father of two boys, 14 and one year old. Having his email signature end with “…also I probably have a baby in my arm so forgive my spelling errors,” he points out the importance of being able to balance family and work.

“No matter how stressed I am … if I give that little boy [about his youngest] a bath and spend a half hour of quality time with him, it makes my day,” he said.

Greenspan also manages to squeeze in regular exercise in his busy schedule. As a “self-diagnosed” OCD and ADD-inflicted person, he said it helps him focus and makes him function.

“You know this experience when the dopamine hits and you’ve got 15 minutes of sheer brilliance… and then I’m kind of an idiot for the rest of the day… but it brings me down a notch and I just kind of deal with all the challenges.”

To close the event, there will be a small get-together where students can meet with the guest and each other. Chavez said the activity “serves as a networking opportunity.”

The students will be able to “meet the speaker; go up, say hello, shake their hand, ask another question.”

“We are an institution that is providing a service to our students in the hopes that we will provide them with a great education and empower them to go out in the world and be productive and happy human beings,” Chavez said.

Greenspan regularly speaks at UCLA and USC. Even though he does not have an official college degree, he has become very experienced throughout his career. He worked for IBM when he was a teenager and started his first business as a 19-year-old.

“[If] every student knew that they were about to get into something where they were going to control exactly what they were going to do each and every day and make change that they believed came from their heart, their gut, their soul, their mind, whatever… and that’s what they need to truly find their happiness and peace… then I would have accomplished something,” Greenspan said.

To register for the event, go to http://www.sbcc.edu/scei/events_announcements.html.