When one considers the “creative” fields, they think fine arts, literature, music, but they don’t think of entrepreneurship. Just as the composer has passion for creating music, the entrepreneur has a passion for advancing our economy.

“(Entrepreneurship) is a very creative field,” said Thomas Allison, a WSU assistant professor of entrepreneurship. “Obviously, innovation involves an aspect of creativity.”

It’s almost the ten-year anniversary of the iPhone, something that started as nothing more than an idea and is now one of the most important aspects of millions of users’ lives.

Allison explained that within entrepreneurship is intrapreneurship, focusing on how older companies can reform themselves.

Apple was struggling, but that changed when the iMac, a desktop computer, and the iPhone, a portable touchscreen computer, came out, he said.

“The smartphone I had before the iPhone was a big clunky thing with a keyboard,” Allison said.

However, when one thinks of an entrepreneur, just as one thinks of a musician, you think of someone working day and night to succeed, not sitting in a college class.

Allison explained that as a professor, his mission is to make sure entrepreneurs avoid unforced errors, another name for avoidable mistakes.

Allison said there is a creative process entrepreneurs are taught to follow.

It begins with ideation, the ability to think of the niche that other people haven’t thought of, one without a lot of competition so there’s more room to move around.

Next comes feasibility analysis, where the entrepreneur has to ask if the idea can really be put into practice.

Finally, the idea is brought into reality.

Mark Cuban, now famous as one of the judges on the TV show “Shark Tank,” followed this model, whether he knew it or not.

Cuban was fired from a small-time tech sales job, according to an article Cuban wrote for Forbes. He then realized that he’d have to go out on his own. He taught himself to code and started a business called Micro-Solutions that sold computer software. After six years, he sold his business for six million dollars.

But the life of the entrepreneur, like that of any other creative, is not all fun and games. In 2010, more small businesses closed their doors than opened, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The entrepreneur has to take a risk in order to start a successful venture. And, in the case of the iPhone, we may all benefit from it.

Take a moment to consider mankind in its infancy. Men lived in caves to avoid the weather. Now, men have built massive skyscrapers and sprawling metropolises. It took ingenuity, creativity and a whole lot of risk to get us to where we are.

Harrison Conner is a junior economics major from Stanwood. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.