On April 18, 2024, X user Eddie Cheng — @ecomEddie — posted a viral thread telling the story of a millionaire and tech entrepreneur, Mike Black, who reportedly decided to shed his wealth to prove he could regain it in one year (archived):
The first post on the thread had received 37.6 million views, 62,000 likes, and 8,300 reshares, as of this writing.
The thread recounted that Black set out to rebuild his fortune after he drained his bank accounts (no details as to where the money went); left the business he founded (Told Media, an internet-based recruiting company); and went homeless. He immediately faced difficulties.
We've contacted Black to ask for more details about how he created the circumstances for this self-imposed challenge, and are seeking to reach members of his team to ask them to share their experiences. We will update this story should they reply.
On June 28, 2020 — three months after the United States shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic — Black, who is based in Austin, Texas, announced he was "starting over." He said he left his apartment with only a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, his phone and a backpack:
He told his followers he nearly slept on the streets on the first day until someone lent him a recreational vehicle. He then began to flip old furniture remotely, and slowly started to make money.
But 10 months into the project, after he had reported he made $64,158.95 and secured around $5,000 in profit per month, he decided to cut the project short due to health problems. Besides learning, four months in, that his father was battling colon cancer, Black said he struggled with two immune diseases and a tumor that caused him pain:
In response to the viral thread, he posted one more video giving his side of the story to critics, telling viewers what he'd learned and what this project had changed for him: