'I Was Sweating on People's Food': The Man Who Tried 30 Side Hustles — From a $2.30-an-Hour Disaster to Retiring at 25

Cody Berman says he retired at 25 after trying more than 30 side hustles, from a $2.30‑an‑hour online survey slog to building digital products and property deals that now fund his life.

He was 19 when he co‑founded a disc‑golf manufacturing company with a friend. It never made him rich, but it taught him things no classroom could: how to market, how to build a website, how to talk to a customer, how to make something from nothing. That foundation, he said, would pay dividends for years to come.

By his mid‑20s, the Massachusetts‑based entrepreneur had reached full financial independence. He is now 30, the author of 'Retire by 30', and the host of 'The FI Show', a podcast dedicated to financial independence. He got there not through a single breakthrough idea, but through more than 30 side hustles, some successful, some embarrassing, and at least one that left him drenched in sweat on a hill in Australia.

The Framework Behind the Freedom

Berman does not think of side hustles as a flat list of options. He organises them into four distinct categories: trading time for money, scalable income streams, sharing‑economy plays, and hybrid or agency‑style businesses. The most financially rewarding, he said, have consistently come from the second group, what he calls 'type two' side hustles.

These are income streams that keep producing revenue long after the initial effort has been made: a digital product sold repeatedly, a blog post indexed by search engines, a podcast episode downloaded thousands of times, a rental property collecting rent monthly. As Berman puts it, it is 'something that is going to pay me in perpetuity.'

His primary income source today is Gold City Ventures, a digital‑product business that began with him selling Valentine's Day love coupons on Etsy. It has since grown into a full template library and course suite, including an E‑Printables side‑hustle course.

Alongside that, Berman has built income through real estate, cycling through long‑term rentals, Airbnbs, house hacking, property flipping and hard‑money lending before settling on real‑estate syndications. A third income stream flows from his personal‑finance content: his podcast, YouTube channel, social‑media presence and book.

The appeal of these ventures is clear. The catch, Berman acknowledges, is equally clear.

'You're not going to start a YouTube channel or create a digital product today and make money with either of those things tomorrow,' he said. 'But in six months' time, those things might start making serious income.'

The $2.30‑An‑Hour Wake‑Up Call

Not everything worked. Berman's most time‑wasting experiment, by his own assessment, was completing online surveys. The pay worked out to roughly $2.30 an hour. 'It was awful,' he said plainly.

The most memorable failure, however, came during a six‑month stay in Australia. With free time on his hands and no desire to sit in front of a screen, he signed up for Uber Eats, bought a pink single‑speed bicycle on Gumtree for around $25, and set off to deliver food around a hilly suburb on a hot day.

'I was sweating on people's food,' he recalled. Within the first month, he had collected two one‑star reviews. The gig paid between $12 and $15 an hour, far better than surveys, but the physical toll was unsustainable. 'My shifts would only last so long until my legs gave out,' he said.

Starting Small To Build Something Bigger

For anyone who cannot wait six months for a digital product to gain traction, Berman's advice is straightforward: begin with a 'type one' side hustle, the kind that trades time for money directly and pays quickly. Freelance writing, podcast editing, website development, landscaping, Uber driving, Instacart shopping or completing tasks through platforms like Taskrabbit all fall into this category.

This is what Berman did in the early years. He lived off type‑one income while his longer‑term projects matured. 'I needed time for my type two side hustles to season,' he said, 'and I supplemented that with the type one stuff.'

The speed advantage of type‑one gigs is real. 'You could literally hop on Taskrabbit tomorrow and go do a couple of tasks, or hop on Instacart or drive Uber tomorrow,' he said. 'And then whenever you're done with it, you can just put it down.'

According to data compiled by Hostinger, millennial side hustlers earn an average of $1,129 per month from secondary income streams, the highest of any generation. That figure reflects a broader shift: 44 per cent of millennials now hold some form of side hustle, driven primarily by a desire to increase savings and cover rising living costs.

Berman's journey illustrates a divide that most side‑hustle advice glosses over: the gap between income and wealth. Gigs that pay immediately rarely build lasting financial independence. The ones that do, digital products, content and real estate, demand patience, upfront effort and the willingness to absorb failure along the way.

His core message is that there is no single correct answer. 'There is a side hustle for everyone,' he said. 'You don't have to do the ones that I did just because those worked for me.'