Taking an Idea to the Marketplace

I'm an idea person. I come up with, on average, atleast 4 new business or product ideas per week. I keep a log of them in my notebooks and randomly revisit the ideas and add more notes or try to more fully develop the idea. As much fun as this is for me, it has been literally worthless up to this point. I don't mean to be severely harsh on myself. I'm just pointing out the fact that, while I think many of these ideas are absolutely brilliant, they have not yet created value for anyone in the world and have profited me nothing. Why is this?

An idea by itself is nothing. Well, maybe not nothing, but certainly not valuable - yet. It's a seed waiting to be planted. While a seed may have potential, if you came to my house for dinner and I gave you a plate of seeds I doubt you would be very impressed or pleased. It's the same in the marketplace. Few companies will pay me for my ideas, let alone undeveloped ones. "But it's so fantastic! It's a million dollar idea!" Maybe. But not quite yet. So, how do I grow these seeds to valuable products?

And this is where I'm stuck - for the moment. Oh, I've started little ventures here and there which have been less than impressive, even though many comment on how much they enjoy looking at my products. Well, "looking" doesn't buy Momma a new pair of shoes. :) So, I'm putting this out into the Universe for anyone to comment on or offer advice or direction. In the meantime, I keep searching on my own and developing my ideas and moving forward.