This week the Wall St. Journal Small Business Report has a great article from Gwendolyn Bounds about figuring out if you can profit from an idea. How to research, refine and present your idea are covered. Plus, find out how to figure out where you want your idea to take you.

Link: WSJ.com – You Have a Great Idea. Now What?(subscription required)

Lots of times, would-be entrepreneurs don’t want to reach out because they’re scared someone will steal the idea. But business moves likes lightning, and such hesitancy can backfire, says Rich Sloan, co-founder of www.StartupNation.com and co-host with his brother Jeff of a nationally syndicated radio show, both of which provide tools and advice for entrepreneurs.

"If you are on a mission, your first concern shouldn’t be what someone takes away from you, but to be aggressive in refining it," Rich Sloan says….

Being an inventor is about having a great idea for a product or service, [Mike Collins, chief executive of Big Idea Group Inc.] says, while being an entrepreneur is about building an organization. Within his own database of 8,000 inventors, he says, there are 10 times as many people who would do better licensing an idea to another company as there are those who would do well building their own organization as entrepreneurs.

Moreover, he suggests that you really try to determine whether the motivation for pursuing an idea is money or a lifestyle change, and focus any idea toward your desired end.