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Published 16:37 19 Aug 2025 BST
Updated 16:37 19 Aug 2025 BST

A millionaire attempted to prove that anyone could make $1 million (£808,000) in a year, but quit the experiment after 10 months as his health started to decline.
Back in 2020, Mike Black began the series, titled Million Dollar Comeback, on his YouTube channel.
Black explained that he believed that with the "right mindset" he could go from having $0 to $1 million in the space of just a year.
He began the challenge by giving up his home, car and livelihood. Black struggled to get off the streets initially, but then managed to find a man through Craigslist who would let him stay in his van.
The YouTuber made his first money from selling furniture online, managing to rack up $300 (£242).
He explained that one of the best things to make a profit on was tables.
"I started taking ads on Craigslist in the free section, putting it on Facebook Marketplace and selling it for a profit," he said.
"I acted as the middleman, handling all the logistics between the buyer and the seller."
At around the three month mark, Black started to work as a freelance social media manager, and even founded his own coffee brand shortly after.
"Look at where we’re at right now. We’re not making millions of dollars but I’m getting on calls with big tech companies pitching them on running their social media. I’m starting a coffee brand. I have a coffee dude in Austin now," he said.
"I mean everything’s going in the right direction. Three months ago I was homeless!"
However, as the experiment went on, Black's father was diagnosed with stage four cancer during the experiment.
The YouTuber's own health also began to go downhill, as he started suffering from two autoimmune diseases and had a tumour on his hip
"I’ve been dealing with a lot of things personally, and recently something’s happened that has really pushed me over the edge," he said.
"My personal health has declined to the point where I really need to start taking care of it. Throughout the entire project, we haven’t shared it with you, but I’ve been in and out of the doctor’s office."
Black's health got to bad that he decided to end the project early, having made $64,000 (£51,700) - a far cry from the $1 million he was aiming for.
"I have officially decided to end the project early. Now as much as it hurts me to do this, especially with just two months left, I feel like it’s the right thing to do," he announced in a video.
"Health and family were much more important than the challenge so I decided to stop the whole project."
Black's full series chronicling his experiment is available to watch on YouTube.
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