u/SorryAd2422

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I’m running a decent-sized Shopify store and doing okay with standard ads, but I keep putting off the full Instagram Shop integration.

I think managing a whole separate catalog, tagging products in every single post, and dealing with Meta's Commerce Manager is going to add more to my grunt work. Plus, does organic shoppable content even convert anymore without boosting it? Does it actually increase your sales ? I’d love to hear some real numbers or experience before I waste a weekend setting this up.

Nobody in my family went to college. Nobody worked in an office. Didn't grow up hearing about networking, negotiation, professional norms. None of it.

Got my degree thinking that was the hard part. Then entered the workforce and realized everyone else seemed to know unwritten rules I'd never heard of.

How to email executives. How to make small talk at events. How to ask for raises. How to navigate office politics. When to speak up and when to shut up.

The kids from professional families just knew this stuff. Absorbed it at dinner tables. Heard it from parents who worked in corporate jobs. Got internships through connections.

I was figuring it out through painful trial and error. Saying the wrong thing. Missing opportunities. Not knowing what I didn't know.

Decided to stop waiting for someone to teach me. Started learning everything myself.

Started using BeFreed for this. It's a personalized audio learning app. Picked topics that would close the gap.

What I've been learning:

Professional communication. Email etiquette. How to structure messages. When to be direct vs diplomatic.

Networking without being sleazy. How to build relationships. Follow up. Provide value. Not just collect business cards.

Negotiation basics. Salary conversations. Advocating for myself. Nobody was going to do it for me.

Office politics. How decisions actually get made. Who holds power. How to navigate without losing yourself.

Executive presence. How to be taken seriously. Speak with confidence. Take up space.

The flashcards drill this until it's natural. Don't have to think about the basics anymore.

The AI coach answers questions I can't ask coworkers. Asked how to decline a meeting from someone senior without being rude. Got actual scripts.

What changed:

Less imposter syndrome. I know the rules now. Just had to learn them differently.

Getting better opportunities. Visibility increased. People see me differently.

DOJ is going for MLB cause of their streaming mess…

Definitely if you are a baseball fan you know that you aren’t able to watch yourfavorite team play if you’re in the teams designated location even if they are away due to the MLB blackout policy or you need Apple TV+ for Friday games, Peacock for Sunday mornings, and a Regional Sports Network (RSN) for everything else.

Well the DOJ has launched an investigation into MLB’s streaming deals for anti-competitive tactics. It thinks MLB is making it unnecessarily hard and expensive for us to watch games. They are looking into :

1. The blackout trap - You pay for MLB.tv, but you can’t watch your local team because the league wants to force you to pay for a cable package or a specific regional app.

2. The league sells exclusive rights to everyone. One week the game is on YouTube, the next it’s on Amazon, then it’s back on a local channel. To see every game, you basically need five different subscriptions.

3. Since MLB has a special legal exemption (the Sports Broadcasting Act), they’ve been able to get away with these weird deals for decades. The DOJ is checking if those rules still apply in the world of Netflix and Hulu.

nasal aspirator is a must-have. then I’m reading that I ALSO need saline drops, spray bottles, and like five other things to make it work if the boogers are dry??

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I feel like my makeup applies so patchily and unevenly lately. Could it be my brushes? How often should I genuinely be cleaning them, and what do you use that won't ruin the bristles?

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Looking at the bigger units that can actually run a fridge, furnace blower, and well pump through a transfer switch. Not interested in the camping-sized stuff. What are you guys running?