The other day I shared a video from Branson on how it is the small businesses owners responsibility to create wealth during these troubled times. While thousands more people are welcomed to work with a pink slip every day, the entrepreneur is able to create wealth virtually out of thin air.

Historically during slowdowns and economic slumps, people tend to do one of two things:

1. Go Back to School
2. Make Their Own Money

During the last Great Depression, more than 25 percent of the nation’s workers were jobless. Those who managed to keep their jobs on average lost 43 percent of the wages. The difference back then is that people did not over-extend themselves like they do today.

Siblings shared bedrooms in reasonably sized houses, and credit cards were not used as another source of spending money. Unfortunately those statistics today would cripple most American families.

The good news is Americans are resilient, we are survivors, and our economy is designed to allow anyone and everyone the opportunity to create their own wealth. As Branson suggested, it is the small businesses that are nimble enough to find an opportunity and act on it.

A company like GM, for instance, can’t decide one day to close hundreds of plants and become an education company. But the teenager in his dorm room making hundreds of dollars online can suddenly decide to offer a service creating YouTube videos for local businesses.

Individuals and small business owners have the flexibility to come up with an idea, act on it, and profit from it that very same day.

Just by doing a search for “layoffs” on Google News, I found headlines from KB Toys, Volvo, CBS, DHL, npr radio, GM… the list seemed never ending. My family has been hit, and so have my neighbors. Everyone from business executives to the warehouse packer is losing their job, and with no hope for a new job in sight.

My brother, who I wrote about a couple weeks ago, finally ran out of options and had to move back home. Having lost his job, house and car, he was literally left homeless. My sister is about to have a baby, but her husband is unable to make any money in the mortgage industry and can’t find any other job.

Both of them turned to me for advice on how to make some extra money, and literally 3 days later my sister made her first $80. While this wasn’t a lot of money, it was evidence to her that it really is possible to make your own money.

Now rather than just being a stay at home mom, my sister spends part of her day “printing money.” It’s a bit frustrating for her husband because he puts in the long hours, but she’s more money without leaving the house.

The sad part is that it took a recession for my sister to realize that a “safe, secure” job was not the only way to produce and income for the family. But now they are able to sleep at night knowing there are ways to write your own paycheck, so to speak.

It’s funny because my sister always shook her head at the idea of owning a business, but she really enjoys making money online. I haven’t told her yet that she in effect started her own business.

See How to Make Money from Home…