When Corey Wadden received a panicked phone from his mother who was worried she might lose her job, he sprang into action.
The 23-year-old decided it was time for his mom to retire, and he'd be the one to make it happen.
"We were raised on a shoe-string budget and I knew very early on that if I didn't retire her, she wouldn't have a retirement plan," Wadden told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.
The aspiring actor set a goal of becoming a millionaire by the time he hits 25.
Now about a year-and-a-half into the challenge, the Waterloo, Ont., entrepreneur has earned nearly $80,000 after launching an electronic book and app development company.
With no experience in business, Wadden turned to a former employer for advice.
"He gave me a couple of books and passed me on to a friend and from there I started doing all these interviews."
Along the course of his challenge, Wadden has met with a number of successful business people and documented his progress with video blogs.
He plans to turn the footage into a documentary in hopes that it will inspire other young people to set lofty goals for themselves.
"I think it's so important for young people to go after ambitious goals," Wadden said. “If you set a huge goal, and even if you fail at it, you still achieve way more than you would have had you not set it.”
While he doesn't currently expect to reach his goal of $1 million by 25, Wadden has no plans of abandoning the challenge.
"I'm still going to go for it. I have some tricks up my sleeve, I'm going to try and pull off," he said. "If it takes me three years instead of two, is that a bad thing? I wouldn't think so."
Wadden estimates he'll hit $160,000 in earnings by his two-year goal, which he said is enough to buy his mom a house, a car and to send her on a trip.
Despite his earnings, Wadden says he feel more broke than ever before -- but for a good cause.
"I reinvest every penny back into the business so they can grow," he said
