As more and more Americans are discovering, losing your job is rough and scary. But it can also be the jolt you need to launch a great career. Take it from J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Somers and Madonna, all of whom made millions after getting fired from an unhappy day job: Opportunity can be hidden just about anywhere — even on a pink slip.

Here are nine women who made it big after finding themselves out of work.

Click here for photos of some of these fabulous and fired women.

J.K. Rowling — A Wiz With Shorthand
As a secretary in a busy London office, Rowling’s boss often accused her of daydreaming, eventually letting her go. That gave the budding fantasy writer time to commit her tales of a young apprentice wizard and his adventures in a magical English boarding school to paper. Since then, the Harry Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies, spawning a billion-dollar blockbuster film series. Rowling is now among Britain’s richest women — and has a secretary or two of her own.

Madonna — Like a Munchkin
In the late 1970s, this future material girl was fired from a Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square for squirting jelly at customers. Back then, the multimillion-dollar queen of pop had less than $100 to her name. A young dance student, she started performing with local groups, eventually forming her own band and recording a string of hit dance tunes. Last October, she signed a ten-year $120 million contract with Live Nation. That’s a lot of donuts.

Mary Kay Ash — A Career Makeover
A single mom in the 1950s, Mary Kay Ash was a top sales director for Stanley Home Products for a quarter century, but was routinely denied promotions and pay hikes. By 1963, a forced retirement left her jobless with a life savings of $5,000. With that cash, she opened a 500-square-foot cosmetics store in Dallas, hiring nine door-to-door "beauty consultants." Today, Mary Kay Inc. brings in over $1 billion a year, with more than 350,000 sales reps around the world.

Suzanne Somers — Three’s a Crowd
After a contract dispute led ABC producers to write her out of "Three’s Company" in the early 1980s, Suzanne Somers’s television career fizzled to pitching Thighmasters on campy late-night infomercials. But off camera, Somers was building a multimillion-dollar empire of branded health and beauty products sold through her own direct marketing firm. A breast cancer survivor, she’s also written a series of bestselling self-help books.

Mena Trott — Blogging for Billions
A victim of the dot-com bust, Mena Trott put her energy into blogging after both she and her husband were laid off from a small Web-design firm in San Francisco in 2002. Frustrated by lousy software, the couple created their own user-friendly blogging tool. Today, Movable Type is an industry standard used by countless bloggers around the world, from media elite to laptop literati. A superstar in Silicon Valley, Trott now heads a fast-growing software company worth millions.         

Martha Stewart — Stocks and Buns
A Wall Street trader, Martha Steward found herself looking for another job after the 1973 recession devastated the financial market and put thousands of brokers out of work (plus ca change). That year, she and a friend opened a bakery in Connecticut that grew into a million-dollar business over the next decade. These days, Stewart has cornered the homemaking market with a media juggernaut spanning television, magazines, books and a line of home and gardening products.

Pat Mitchell — Thanks to Viewers Like You
When Look magazine folded in the early 1970s, Pat Mitchell recalls managers serving reporters Bloody Marys, along with their pink slips. Out of work, broke and disillusioned with the magazine industry, Mitchell took a stab at television. Over the next three decades, she developed into a groundbreaking producer, receiving 37 Emmys, five Peabody Awards and two Oscar nominations. In 2000, she became president and CEO of PBS.