✔️ Summary: In this episode, Pili, an actress turned real estate investor, talks about her amazing journey as an entrepreneur. She started her career as an actress in NYC, worked many different jobs and ultimately decided to get into real estate with her husband Jason. Their venture into real estate has included heavy construction, flipping houses, wholesaling houses, and now multifamily apartment buildings and storage facilities. They also provide education and coaching to aspiring real estate investors. She has so much great advice on having faith in yourself, being authentic, focusing, finding your own path, and more!

⭐️ About Pili Yarusi:

Pili Yarusi loves to help people and “Lead with Aloha”.

She is a founder and Investor Education and Relations Director for Yarusi Holdings, a multifamily investment firm that has acquired over 2000 units valued at $180 Million since 2016. The firm repositions properties through operational efficiencies, moderate to extensive renovations, and complete rebranding. Pili is a co-founder and coach at 7 Figure Multifamily - focusing on Real Estate Syndication and Multifamily Investing and trains others on the success formula for buying apartment buildings at www.7FigureMultifamily.com.

Pili is a co-host of The Multifamily Live Podcast providing actionable content and tools to build and strengthen your multifamily business.

She is also the co-host of The Jason and Pili Guide to Real Estate Investing - a fun and interactive YouTube channel that features all the great things that she and Jason are working on.

She and her husband Jason have three awesome children, Luke, Lily, and Leo, and an English Bulldog, Jill.

✔️ Teaser: If you read the news at all, you probably remember the bad rap Meta had experienced late last year. Meta is the worst company. Do not invest in Meta. Meta’s Metaverse is garbage. Meta already lost the Metaverse war to Microsoft. Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth dropped by over $ 60 billion in 6 months in 2022.

Hold on a second, despite all that, Personal Finance Cat is talking about investing in Meta??? Well, before you turn me off, spoiler alert, I want to show you how I doubled my money investing in Meta in just a few months, using the formulas inspired by non-other than the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.

In this episode, I am going to walk you through how I applied the 3 methods described in the best selling book Invested by Danielle Town:

👉 Ten Cap Method

👉 Payback Time Method

👉 Margin of Safety Method

🚨Check out my website at https://personalfinancecat.wixsite.com/personal-finance-cat for blogs and other resources!

✔️ Summary: In this episode, Vivian Chen talks about her journey climbing the corporate ladder. In particular, she was able to successfully transition from a technical PhD scientist to a strategy and operations professional at a multinational pharmaceutical company. I find it especially fascinating her take on why the pharmaceutical industry may be better than the tech industry, at least for some people, including herself.

⭐️ About Vivian: Vivian is currently the Director of Portfolio and Strategy at AstraZeneca. Prior to AstraZeneca, Vivian was a Senior Consultant within Deloitte’s Supply Chain & Network Operations practice where she successfully advised, implemented, and operated business and digital transformations for life sciences clients. Her other professional accomplishments include eight years of project and product management experience working in the scientific instrumentation industry for corporations including Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Agilent Technologies, and Bruker Daltonics. During her tenure she managed and supported product development of both custom software and hardware for pharmaceutical and biotech, clinical labs and hospitals, forensic labs, chemical and energy, environmental, consumer packaged goods (CPGs) and university clients. She has supported products and clients in 40+ states in the United States and 4 overseas countries, such as Spain, Germany, China, and Japan.

✔️ Summary: In this episode, Calanthia Mei, Co-Founder at Masa Finance, talks about her career journey as a female, first-generation immigrant, minority entrepreneur in the fintech and web3 space.

⭐️ About Calanthia: Calanthia's work has been featured on CNBC, Blockworks, CoinDesk, TechCrunch, CoinTelegraph, FinTech TV, Crypto Coin Show, and more.

Prior to Masa, Calanthia has been a serial entrepreneur / investor. She was a founding member of PayPal’s Venture Capital arm, a Venture Partner at SoGal Ventures, an Investment Partner at the Community Fund, as well as the Vice President of Business Development at Fast.

►About Masa: As a web3 soulbound identity protocol, Masa is on a mission to bring the next 1 billion people to web3 by building the identity passport for users and developers.

✨ In this episode, we have Kelly An, a web 2.5 startup founder based in Singapore, to talk about her experience going from a software engineer, to venture capital investor, to startup founder. Her journey covers China, United States (both east and west coasts), France, Singapore, and wherever else it may take her!

👉 About Kelly: Kelly An is a software engineer, impact investor, and experienced community builder. At PayPal, she was recognized with the Top Inventor Award for two consecutive years, co-authored two patents, and was a leading member of its Singapore global headquarters’ Innovation Lab team. As a Chapter Head of SoGal Foundation and Limited Partner in SoGal Ventures and Hustle Fund, she helps to empower diverse entrepreneurs around the world. She holds a MBA from INSEAD, two bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Psychology from top U.S institutes. She was a scholarship recipient to attend Stanford University's 500 Startup's VC Executive program. Now she’s building a web2.5 startup to help traditional brands to explore the web3 marketing solution to create a deep engagement and loyal with their customers.

Evelyn is currently a Software Engineer at Microsoft. She changed her career from political science, to international development, to software engineering. It took her 17 months to break into tech by teaching herself how to code while having a full time job and raising two kids. She first got accepted into the Microsoft LEAP Apprenticeship Program in less than one year after she wrote her first “Hello world!” program in Python. She came to the US for college all by herself more than a decade ago, and worked really hard to become a successful career woman, in the field of her dreams. Her story is truly inspiring, and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode! 

Summary:

What excites me the most about the Metaverse is the fact that with the brand new platform (aka web 3.0), there will be brand new business opportunities. Web1.0 and web 2.0 brought about all the amazing businesses we know and love (or love to hate) today. It added so much convenience (think about search), liberated people from traditional career paths (think about social media), and elevated how traditional businesses operate (think about websites and apps). Web3 is what many people, myself included, believe can take everything to a whole other level. If you are excited about this as well, then listen on because I will share some brand new business ideas that were not available previously in web 1.0 or web 2.0.

References:

1. Mark Zuckerberg interview on the Joe Rogan Podcast
2. https://www.shopify.com/blog/shopify-ar-examples
3. VR AR Association

Summary:

In this episode, we’re going to talk about another exciting opportunity in the Metaverse industry - manufacturing hardware such as VR headsets. Do you know that among all the billionaires in the world, one of the top 3 industries is manufacturing? I don’t know about you, but I always thought the top industry would be tech by far, but turns out, according to Forbes, of the the 2,668 billionaires on Forbes’ 2022 World’s Billionaires list, the top 3 biggest industries are actually finance/investment, manufacturing, and tech, in that order. In other words, the manufacturing industry produced more billionaires than tech, at least for 2022. As they say, you should choose your profession carefully. Well, if you want to choose a business to own and operate, the same line of thinking applies. Listen to this episode to find out how you can start a manufacturing business for the Metaverse!

References:

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesodonnell/2022/04/06/how-to-become-a-billionaire-these-industries-have-the-most-people-on-the-2022-forbes-list/?sh=73df64f66898
2. https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/top-suppliers/virtual-reality-companies/
3. https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/how-to-start-a-manufacturing-business/
4. https://www.thevrara.com/events

Summary:

Do you want to be the founder of the next Nest, Zoom or Coinbase, but in the Metaverse industry? These founders are all billionaires now but they started out just as you and I - working as an employee for some company they do not own. So if you want to be a Metaverse entrepreneur, maybe get a job in a Metaverse company first! Listen to this episode to find out how!

References:

• Forbes Article: Age And Entrepreneurship: Research Shows Average Age Of Successful Founders Is Older Than You Think

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhall/2018/10/16/age-of-successful-founders/?sh=237d4ffa1b87

• Freecodecamp.org Youtube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp

• Non-Coding Tech Jobs that pay $100k + in 2022 (6-FIGURE TECH JOBS WITHOUT CODING) by Mo Salhan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8oLHzW2qFU

• Top Non-Coding Tech Jobs that pay $100k+ in 2022 (6-FIGURE TECH JOBS WITHOUT CODING) by Tiff in Tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFsq-wE_to0

• In Demand Tech Jobs (No Coding) by Bukola

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEHSFVEkW4Y

• Wikipedia on Chamath Palihapitiya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamath_Palihapitiya

• Wikipedia on Sheryl Sandberg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheryl_Sandberg

Summary:

Would you pay for something that does not exist in the physical world? Well, in a sense we all do that nowadays - movies, music, games are all digital products and we have been buying and consuming them for years. If you are a gamer, you also know that people have been buying stuff in video games, not just the game itself, but other so-called in-game purchases like extra lives, hints, one-time features, or in-app currency like tokens.So what’s different for digital products in the Metaverse? Well, not really anything that different, but better! Why? Well, there are several reasons, and I will break them down for you in this episode. 

References:

- Cashing in on the Metaverse: How designers are making money on Web 3.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cvmXaGWT-M

- How to make Wearable UGC Accessories (NEW) {2022} [ROBLOX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWBHkIz5GZc

- Avatars need their nails done, too. Enter the Metaverse side hustle

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/Metaverse-make-money-avatars-decentraland-rcna41336

- Horizon Worlds Announcement on Monetization Tools Test

https://www.engadget.com/horizon-worlds-monetization-tools-test-220033094.html

- Why the Metaverse Is Fashion's Next Goldmine | The Business of Fashion Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBZ6Bd0LDjs

- Get A Tour Of The Metaverse Retail Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OtIM0L7lLo

- Virtual Products & NFTs in the Metaverse

https://www.threekit.com/how-to-sell-virtual-products-in-the-Metaverse

Summary:

Before social media was created, there was no such a thing as an influencer. But now of course, being an influencer is a legit business venture, and it’s getting very competitive in all of the popular platforms. Metaverse is offering you another chance! Except there is one caveat, Metaverse is not quite here yet, at least not completely. So how can I become an influencer in the Metaverse, you ask? 

In this episode, we are going to break down the three ways of influencing in the Metaverse, even without the Metaverse being completely here, yet. 

References:

• AJ Marketing Article - Top 17 Metaverse Influencers to Follow

https://www.ajmarketing.io/post/top-17-Metaverse-influencers-to-follow

• SensoriumXR Article - How to Enter the Metaverse 

https://sensoriumxr.com/articles/how-to-enter-the-Metaverse

• LifeStyle Asia Article - Influencers in the Metaverse

https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/gear/tech/influencers-in-the-Metaverse/

• YouTube Tutorial on How to Display Your NFTs in Decentraland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERaZjBhxYEM

• YouTube Tutorial on Getting Started with Mozilla Hubs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QnOsyyebEQ

• YouTube Tutorial on Engage VR for Training and Collaboration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo5tOYli9as

• Mark Zuckerberg Interview on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/51gxrAActH18RGhKNza598

• Thrill Seeker YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/ThrillSeekerVR

• Lil Miquela Instagram Page

https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/?hl=en

• Nobody Sausage Instagram Page

https://www.instagram.com/nobodysausage/?hl=en

Summary:

Interested in education in the Metaverse as a creator? Good news, it is already here. Listen to the episode to find out what resources are out there ready to be used, and what training is available for you to take in order to learn more about education in the Metaverse. We are still in the first inning, so as they say - sky’s the limit! There is so much impact you can potentially make!

References:

1. A Whole New World - Education Meets the Metaverse:

https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-whole-new-world-education-meets-the-metaverse

2. Meta Immersive Learning:

https://about.meta.com/immersive-learning

3. Medium Article about the Metaverse App:

https://medium.com/metaverseapp/you-can-create-magic-in-the-classroom-951d068f365c

4. Metaverse App:

https://studio.gometa.io

5. Metaverse App’s YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCum7uPJBXug0HfqNi4AfQmQ

6. What Will Learning in the Metaverse Look Like:

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/22/06/what-will-learning-metaverse-look

7. An Introduction to Learning In the Metaverse (April 2022):

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ebf125cd7828b7fb425e1d7/t/624dbe595a03ab107733782e/1649268749694/IntroductionLearningMetaverse-April2022-MeridianTreehouse.pdf

8. The Metaverse Is Already Here, and K–12 Schools Are Using It for Education:

https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2022/06/metaverse-already-here-and-k-12-schools-are-using-it-education

9. Meta Spark AR Curriculum:

https://sparkar.facebookblueprint.com/student/catalog

Summary:

In this episode, I talk about how to become a mearaverse technical expert. I’m not a coder, so I speak from a layman perspective. I more so want to make the case that it’s a no-brainer that if you’re already a coder or programmer or software engineer or in any other tech career, you should really start learning how to channel your skills to make them relevant for the metaverse, if you haven’t done so already. Or, you could be interested in the tech space and thinking about joining this exciting field, then this episode will be helpful for you too. You will find some motivations as well as helpful resources to help you get started to develop your metaverse technical expertise! 

References: 

1. Informative article about how to become a metaverse developer:

https://metaverseinsider.tech/2022/07/27/how-to-become-a-metaverse-developer-get-a-job-in-2022/

2. Mckinsey & Company’s Report: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/marketing%20and%20sales/our%20insights/value%20creation%20in%20the%20metaverse/Value-creation-in-the-metaverse.pdf

3. Citi’s Report:

https://icg.citi.com/icghome/what-we-think/citigps/insights/metaverse-and-money_20220330

4. Suboptimal Engineer video titled “Introduction to the Metaverse for Software Engineers”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnlYZXuN2vU

5. Harvard Business Review article:

https://hbr.org/2022/04/how-the-metaverse-could-change-work.

6. Dev the Metaverse video titled “Let's start your Metaverse developer career!”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAiKIdqqrsQ&t=185s

7. Justin P Barnett video titled “What Do I Need to Become a VR Developer?”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqXBY51KP5A

8. Freecodecamp 16 hour course titled “Solidity, Blockchain, and Smart Contract Course – Beginner to Expert Python Tutorial”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M576WGiDBdQ

9. Freecodecamp 32 hour course titled “Learn Blockchain, Solidity, and Full Stack Web3 Development with JavaScript”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyMwXuJrbJQ

Summary:

If you are like me, who does not know how to code, or know anything about design or architecture, but are still very interested in learning about the Metaverse, then this episode is for you. Listen on to learn how to get started to become a Metaverse consultant.

References:

• Boston Consulting Group's Metaverse Consulting Service Offerings

https://www.bcg.com/capabilities/digital-technology-data/emerging-technologies/metaverse-services

• Forbes' Metaverse Reading List

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2022/07/15/the-metaverse-summer-reading-list-here-are-the-books-every-professional-should-read-this-summer/?sh=425c3ef2d5ea

• Value Creation in the Metaverse by McKinsey & Company

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/value-creation-in-the-metaverse

• Top 5 Online Courses on Metaverse

https://medium.com/blockchaincouncil/top-5-online-courses-on-metaverse-for-beginners-in-2022-188e87cf50d4

• Shopify President Finkelstein on E-Commerce in Metaverse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdILv8Jdd0Q

• Metaverse Marketing Podcast

https://www.adweek.com/category/metaverse-marketing-podcast/

• Interview with Matthew Ball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Vvse_3cQk

Summary:

Are you someone who has a knack for aesthetic beauty? Have you been getting compliments on your good tastes? Do you regularly have ideas in your mind to decorate your house? If that sounds like you, listen to this episode to find out how you can take advantage of the first inning of the burgeoning Metaverse to become a designer or architect there.

References:

• Decentraland’s call to action 

https://decentralandarchitects.com/how-to-become-a-metaverse-architect/

• What skills you need

https://www.dumblittleman.com/metaverse-architect-job/

• Meta Certified Spark AR Creator free course

https://www.facebookblueprint.com/student/collection/291404

• Coursera Course to become a Google Certified UX designer

https://grow.google/certificates/?utm_source=gDigital&=paidha&utm_campaign=sem-bk-gen-phr-glp-br&utm_term=google%20training%20certification&gclid=Cj0KCQjw08aYBhDlARIsAA_gb0cVzRmrnlgJb1qeBTNdsY1z5cB4eJnmNJ_GoLG2nQrUPIYIvXuyrr8aAoQgEALw_wcB#?modal_active=none

Other references:

1. https://www.editorx.com/shaping-design/amp/metaverse-design
2. https://www.archdaily.com/968905/architecting-the-metaverse
3. https://www.coursera.org/lecture/digital-fashion-reality/fashion-design-in-the-metaverse-SjIJF?utm_source=link&utm_medium=page_share&utm_content=vlp&utm_campaign=top_button

In this episode, I talk about the top 5 metaverse companies to invest in based on my research. When I researched this topic, I found quite a few good sources. While this is not meant to be financial advice, I soon realized that there are some clear patterns from the financial advice type of websites. At the end of the day, the top companies these various sources recommend overlap heavily. My final shortlisted 5 companies is based on these following sources:

1. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4479232-7-best-metaverse-stocks-2022
2. https://money.usnews.com/investing/slideshows/metaverse-stocks-to-buy
3. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/7-best-metaverse-stocks-to-invest-in
4. https://www.kiplinger.com/investing/stocks/603552/7-metaverse-stocks-for-the-future-of-technology

Other references:

1. https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/13/instagram-stories-bigger-than-snapchat/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUfCr3hz9FE

Welcome to PFC's Metaverse Season, Episode 1.

Unfortunately, the headline these days is that metaverse real estate is experiencing some “severe meltdown”, similar to cryptocurrencies and NFTs (or non fungible tokens).

Why was there a hype to begin with, and where is it headed now? Listen to this episode of the Personal Finance Cat Podcast to find out, and you may be surprised to hear what my recommendation is at the end.

Yes, I decided to dedicate a whole season, consisting of approximately 10 to 15 episodes, to the single topic, Metaverse. I talked about the 10 business opportunities in the Metaverse in Episode 11 of the Personal Finance Cat Podcast. But in this season, I’m planning to dive deep into each of the 10 opportunities and more.

Listen to this trailer and stay tuned for more!

Summary:

In this episode, I will try to explain to you what NFT (or non fungible token) is, how the NFT market has been in the last year or two, and what is happening to most NFTs’ prices now. Should you invest in NFTs? Listen to the episode to find out!

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token
2. https://cointelegraph.com/news/22-year-old-indonesian-boy-makes-1m-by-selling-nft-selfies-on-opensea
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_Ape
4. https://cyberscrilla.com/how-non-fungible-tokens-are-changing-sports-forever/
5. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/13/jack-dorseys-first-tweet-nft-went-on-sale-for-48m-it-ended-with-a-top-bid-of-just-280/
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2022/04/14/why-jack-dorseys-first-tweet-nft-plummeted-99-in-value-in-a-year/?sh=1a82234a65cb
7. https://beincrypto.com/nft-marketplace-volume-12-billion-2022-lows/

In this episode, I want to explain to you why gas prices are so high, and unfortunately, will remain high for a while, from the economics perspective. The reason may not be what you think, or what the mainstream media try to make you think.