Takeaway producer Kristen Meinzer writes:

Over the past couple weeks, I've been researching how we can turn our hobbies into businesses, with the help of Justin Jones-Fosu, leadership trainer and occasional work contributor for The Takeaway. Together, we've uncovered a lot of stuff, including the fact that small businesses currently employ more than half of all workers in the U.S. (according to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy). Here are a few things we've learned if you want to turn your hobby into a business:

With so much talk about the ailing economy, it may not seem like the best time to start a new business,  but in our weekly work segment we look at some reasons why it might make sense to do it now. Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties, joins us with two entrepreneurs who are doing well in the recession: Marva Allen, co-owner of Hue-Man Bookstore in New York, and Jo-Ellen Stammen, who runs her own design business. ...(continue reading)

"Hacker Spaces" are physical spaces for ordinary people to play with electronics. But they're also helping to create the technology we'll see in our households years from now. Takeaway producer Jim Colgan checked in on a “hacker space” in Brooklyn called NYC Resistor, where they were testing a homemade 3D printer that can be mass produced.

Plus: Click here for a Producer's Note from Jim.

Laid-off workers across the country are building business plans instead of sending out resumes. Economists say that when the economy takes a dive, it's common for people to turn to their inner entrepreneur to start their own businesses.

Alex Andon in San Francisco and Lucy Aponte in the Bronx join The Takeaway to talk about their bright ideas. Also weighing in on the conversation is Stephen Key, co-founder of InventRight , a company dedicated to educating investors about how to pursue their ideas. He offers advice to these budding entrepreneurs.

Newspapers are struggling to find a workable business model as readers migrate on-line, but one entrepreneur thinks paper and ink still have a place. Joshua Karp joins The Takeaway to explain his start-up, a twice-daily free print newspaper called The Printed Blog.

For those living on the streets, newspapers could prove to be an unlikely lifeline this winter. Taxi, a Toronto-based advertising agency, is donating thousands of its high-tech, sub-zero coats to the homeless. The jacket, when filled with an assortment of op-eds, sports, movie listings and classified pages, is as protective as any down-filled coat. For a look at this news many can use, The Takeaway turns to Taxi's Steve Mykolyn, the creative force behind the winter gear.

The brilliant young men and women who were plucked from college by booming banks are now looking for other options. This is a good thing, and history proves it, says Stephen Dubner, co-author of the "Freakonomics" book and blog. Americans can look forward to talented, hard-working people spreading out through the economy, in ways that may buoy our GDP.