GRAVES COUNTY, Ky.---Jobs are hard to find, and as a result laid off workers are coming up with new ways to leave the unemployment line and in many cases the traditional time clock isn't needed anymore.
New numbers show millions of Americans are working from home and starting their own businesses.
A U.S. Census Bureau report found that nearly 13.4 million Americans now work from home.
That's a 41 percent increase from a decade ago. Nearly half of those workers are self employed.
After losing her job at a plant,  a local woman came up with a way to turn uncertainty into opportunity.

Inside Great Ambitions School of Cosmetology there's no lack of ambition.

All you have to do is watch student Joni Akins at work, and you can tell she loves what she does.

"This is something I've always wanted to do I've just never had the opportunity to," Akins said.

After losing her job at Goodyear, she searched for jobs and discovered nearly no one was hiring.

"It was either this or just sit at home and be depressed about it so you might as well get out and do something," Akins said.

She took a leap of faith and landed here.

Akins isn't alone, the owner says nearly half of her students lost their jobs, couldn't find work and were forced to create a new career.

"I was one of those people, I had worked at Mattel and lost my job," owner Amanda Morris said.

She quickly realized she wasn't alone, so in February she opened a school for those wanting to take their careers into their own hands.

"That was what drove me to do this now because the economy is bad," Morris said.

Now it doesn't matter if anyone is hiring, Akins can work for herself as one of millions of self employed Americans.

The school owner anticipates her school will keep growing as more local people can't find jobs and want to become self employed.

Akins tells us Goodyear paid for half of her tuition, with the rest of her expenses paid out of pocket.