Man, hard disagree on the straight knife being useless for birds! A stiff 10 inch straight is my go-to when I'm breaking down a whole bird into parts, because that long blade rides through the joints and skin in one clean pull. The curved semi flex is great for hugging the breastbone, sure, but try getting a clean cut through the hip joint with all that flex working against you. Six minutes for 9 birds is fast, no argument there, but fast on one motion does not mean it wins on every cut. Sounds more like you got used to the curve than that the straight knife is trash.

Spooning and leveling saved my cookies too. Game changer.

Back when I managed a record store we spent months buying ads in the local alt weekly because that was the playbook, and the owner finally tracked it and found out maybe two people a month ever walked in from those. The whole time our best days came from a clipboard signup at the counter and a monthly postcard to regulars, which cost almost nothing. So yeah, an owned list beats rented eyeballs almost every time.