Earlier quoted context omitted.
There isn't really a 'break into the business' there is a process for filing a patent. You can look it up at uspto.gov. There are filing fees etc, they have been reduced for 'small' inventors courtesy of the JOBS act. Generally the application in by registered mail, and then answering all the questions that come back is sufficient. If you pay an attorney to do that its about $20K these days but it can be done for muc…
What are your thoughts on provisional patents? Also I'm most confused what to do after getting a patent. How do you interest companies in licensing it?
1) There is no business where joe random person writes up a patent, gets it issued, and then BigCorp comes along and offers to buy it for eleventy billion dollars. That is a myth, a pipe dream, a fantasy. Doesn't happen (not that it can't happen, just that it doesn't)
2) You invent something to solve a problem, generally people who invent things are quite taken with their own inventions, so they build them. A provisional patent is a good way to establish patent protection for your idea before you've invested too much time and effort into it, and it can make it easier to talk to third parties about it because they can't "steal" it if you've already got a provisional filed.
That said, you either self fund, or you convince folks of how great it is to fund you, and you convince them to help you build it. Then you find people who have the problem it solves and you try to sell it to them. If they buy it, you build more and continue. If nobody buys it, well you go on to your next idea. If you can't sell your idea you might partner with someone who is good at selling things.
This is all basic stuff. Its not "easy" in that there aren't any "easy" roads to success, if there were it would be trampled by everyone using it.