Tony Harris speaks with a soap entrepreneur on the success of her small business.

Entrepreneur Sonya Jones is one busy woman. She has been baking up tasty treats with her son since 1997 in an historic Atlanta neighborhood, but her small business took a big hit during the rescession. We caught up with her eight months ago when she was struggling. Watch how she is doing now.

One small businesswoman created her own form of stimulus. Cameroon immigrant Agatha Achindu, the owner of an organic baby food company "Yummy Spoonfuls" joined Tony Harris to talk about her successful enterprise.

Denise Garlow was inspired by her daughter to start her own business during this recession making a unique kind of doll to provide inspiration for children to live out their dreams.  "The Representatives" were born because she needed to find a way to make money after her husband's consulting business dried up. 

Denise designs the dolls, is writing a storybook to go with it and is making prototypes out of her garage. She says she never would've found her passion had the recession not hit: a common theme we're finding in Survival of the Fittest series..

We’re seeing people take some unique measures to make ends meet.  A Teaneck, New Jersey woman is hoping a bake sale can help forestall foreclosure of her home, for example.  What are some creative things you’ve done to make extra money?

Chime in by commenting.  We are going to try to read your comments during the show today.

Agatha Achindu, 42 years old, started her business three years ago when she couldn't find
fresh, organic baby food for her first born. She dropped a six figure salary to follow her passion.
Check out our latest "Survival of the Fittest" story.

Read more about Agatha's business and the pros and cons of starting your own business during a recession.

ATLANTA - Jennifer and Joe Remling worked for big firms all their lives. She, a corporate recruiter. He, an architect. Not fulfilled by the experience– they charged out on their own to become their own bosses.

The new entrepreneurs were so happy they wanted to spread the love. So the couple hit the road in an Airstream to interview entrepreneurs around the country about how they made it. Their stories are now published in their book "Carve Your Own Road".

Jennifer Remling hits the road in an Airstream to find America's entrepreneurial spirit

Jennifer now holds workshops to help people find their life's work. She says most people she meets say they've never taken the time to sit down and write out in words what they want in their lives. She says it's essential to get "clarity" and focus about what you love to do before you can take action.

Ask yourself key questions: what am i doing when I lose all sense of time? What am i really good at?

As a former corporate recruiter for technology firms, Jennifer met thousands of people who had no passion for their job and felt totally unfulfilled. They didn't realize that *they* were in charge of their life's path. They felt life was "happening" to them– not that they were carving their own path. They were "stuck" in a job they didn't feel like mattered.

Nowadays, Jennifer says she's finding many people graduating from college want to have a job that they feel will impact the world, that will make people's lives better.

Here's a little bit of Jennifer and Joe's story.

You can learn more about Jennifer and Joe's methods for life and work success on their website: www.carveyourownroad.com

The Little Bakery That Could

Pasta Lady Rolls Through Recession

Elisa Gambino is a small business owner who lost a third of her business when recession hit.
So she rolled with the punches, got creative and began driving the pasta to the people.

On Friday– we'll bring you the story of the "Sweet Auburn Bread Company". Baker Sonya's sweet potato cheesecake became famous when President Clinton sampled it. But the recession took down a lot of her business. Now she too is rolling with the punches– and getting inventive.

By Amy Chillag
Writer/Segment Producer
CNN Newsroom AM w/Tony Harris

I decided to launch this “Survival of the Fittest” Series to show how smart entrepreneurs are coming up with inventive ways to beat the recession.

We’re hearing so much doom and gloom lately about layoffs but there are silver linings to this economic downturn.

In this piece, a successful realtor and single mom was selling fewer and fewer houses. It was a tough time for her, so for therapy and fun (and because she had time on her hands) she started to paint with her children. She was soon “discovered” and now she’s a fulltime artist whose pieces can be found in five galleries around the country. She found her true passion and calling because of the recession.

Friday Preview: Tomorrow we interview an entrepreneur who hit it big with an upscale potato chip company—then became the local advice-guy for dozens of budding entrepreneurs. He hung out at coffee shops where people tracked him down for tips and emotional support. So, to make it official, in the middle of the recession he formed a company called “Idea Ocean”. Now he’s getting paid to give advice. And he has valuable tips for any of you aspiring entrepreneurs out there with big ideas.