Cody Berman’s entrepreneurial journey began at age 19 with a disc golf manufacturing company. While the venture wasn't a financial home run, the now 30-year-old serial entrepreneur credits it with teaching him the foundational skills—marketing, networking, manufacturing, and web design—that would define his career.
After a brief seven-month stint in commercial real estate lending—during which he saved his entire salary by living strictly off side-hustle money—Berman built a $35,000 financial cushion. That safety net gave him the confidence to leave corporate America behind forever.
Over the next decade, Berman experimented with more than 30 different side hustles, ultimately achieving financial independence in his mid-20s and authoring the book Retire by 30.
Berman categorizes side hustles into four types: trading time for money, scalable income streams, sharing-economy plays, and agency-style businesses. Here is his breakdown of what works, what fails, and how to get started.
🚀 The Most Lucrative: Scalable "Type Two" Income
The most profitable side hustles for Berman fell into his second category: scalable income streams. He defines these as assets that require significant upfront effort but continue to pay you in perpetuity long after the initial work is done.
"You're not going to start a YouTube channel or create a digital product today and make money tomorrow," Berman notes. "But in six months' time, those things might start making serious income."
Berman's top three scalable income buckets include:
Digital Products: His primary income driver today is Gold City Ventures. What began as a simple Etsy shop selling Valentine's Day love coupons has scaled into a massive template library and an E-Printables educational course.
Real Estate: After experimenting with house hacking, flipping, long-term rentals, Airbnbs, and hard-money lending, Berman now focuses on passive real-estate syndications.
Personal Finance Education: Income generated via The FI Show podcast, his YouTube channel, social media presence, and book.
📉 The Biggest Flops: $2.30/Hour and Sweaty Deliveries
Not every experiment was a success. Berman highlights two distinct failures from his decade of hustling:
| The Side Hustle | The Financials | The Outcome |
| Online Surveys | ~$2.30 per hour | The Worst Waste of Time: Berman describes the experience simply as "awful." |
| Uber Eats by Bicycle | ~$12 to $15 per hour | The Funniest Flop: While living in Australia, Berman bought a $25 single-speed bike to make money away from his computer. The grueling, hilly terrain combined with intense heat resulted in quick physical exhaustion—and two 1-star reviews for sweating on customers' food. |
⏱️ The Easiest Way to Start: "Type One" Hustles
Because scalable digital products and real estate portfolios take months to become profitable, Berman recommends that anyone needing immediate cash start with a "Type One" side hustle: trading time for money.
Early in his career, Berman used these immediate-income gigs to stay afloat while waiting for his scalable projects to mature.
Fast-Starting "Type One" Ideas:
Digital/Freelance: Freelance writing, website building, video editing, or podcast editing.
Gig Economy & Local: Driving for Uber, shopping for Instacart, completing tasks on Taskrabbit, or landscaping.
The Ultimate Advantage: Speed and flexibility. You can sign up for a platform tomorrow, earn fast cash, and completely put it down whenever you want.
💡 The Takeaway
While Berman found his sweet spot in digital products and real estate, he emphasizes that there is no universal "best" side hustle. The ideal gig depends entirely on your unique skills, personality, and goals.
His advice? Lean into what you genuinely enjoy and skip what you hate. "There is a side hustle for everyone. You don't have to do the ones that I did just because those worked for me."