A great idea alone will not make you successful. An idea is simply the first step in the task of converting your creativity into an opportunity. How do entrepreneurs transform a good insight into a marketable opportunity? These 5 steps can guide you through the process:

The 5-step Creative Process for Entrepreneurs

• Preparation — After coming up with a great idea, let the left side of your brain do some information gathering. The left side of your brain is analytical, objective and rational. Use it to examine and collect information related to the idea.
• Mastication — Mastication is the act of chewing. Once enough general information has been gathered, let the right side of your brain “chew” on the idea. The right side of your brain is intuitive and subjective; it will approach the idea from a holistic perspective and find synergies you never realized.
• Incubation — Walk away from the idea. This may seem counter-intuitive, but in actuality you are way too close to the idea after the first two steps. It is important to back away from the idea and let it incubate and mature in your mind at a subconscious level. The best way to do this is to engage yourself in an activity that allows you to lose track of time (e.g. exercising, playing video games, etc.).
• Illumination — Most great inventor/entrepreneur success stories begin their tale at this step — when the proverbial “light bulb” turns on. This “Eureka!” moment is the culmination of the preparation, mastication and incubation steps. At the point of illumination, the synergized idea bursts out of subconscious incubation and into your conscious mind — usually when least expected.
• Commercialization — Some may say this is the easy part, others might tell you that the real work starts here. Commercializing your idea is the last step in its transformation into an opportunity. In this step you are smoothing the edges of the idea and developing a model for monetization. Who will pay for it? How will you manufacture it? Where should you position it in the market?

Attribution:

• New Venture Creation (Timmons & Spinelli)
• John Schuyler: 5-Steps in the Creative Process

1. Retirement businesses: Millions of baby boomers will soon retire. Most boomers are still too energetic and engaged to just golf or garden. Others need income but can’t find jobs. Boomer retirees will start businesses in record numbers.
2. Continuing rapid pace of change: Change — rapid change — is now a business constant. One participant in our future-predicting panel referred to this as “permanent whitewater” — the world around us is always swirling.
3. Rising health-care costs: Health care will continue to be an ever-increasing expense, rising disproportionately to other costs. This will dampen both individual business growth and new business formation.
4. Entrepreneurship education: Look for younger and better business owners in the years to come. Students are flocking to entrepreneurship classes and programs in college, and teaching kids how to run businesses starts as early as elementary school. Also, there’s a new field of small-business management.
5. Immigrant entrepreneurs: Immigrants have always been a tremendous force for creating new businesses in the U.S., and their numbers will keep expanding. These businesses will be in all industries and level of complexity — not just the corner store or the new computer company.
6. Reluctant entrepreneurs: Finally, as jobs in large corporations continue to be eliminated or sent offshore, many people who would rather have a job will be forced to start businesses just to survive.

In the full article, Small Businesses Can Make Change Work For Them, Rhonda also provides tips for harnessing the potiential of these trends.

The last three trends suggest that entrepreneurship is becoming a preferred (often required) career path for younger generations. Magazine covers and front page stories blast us daily with a seemingly endless stream of overnight millionaires. Envy is producing a market for turn-key systems that flatten the learning curve for entrepreneurial business ventures. Teach people how to play the part of entrepreneur and you will find a profitable niche.