diff --git a/src/pages/start/2.nix-run.mdx b/src/pages/start/2.nix-run.mdx
index 60b961e5..d752074e 100644
--- a/src/pages/start/2.nix-run.mdx
+++ b/src/pages/start/2.nix-run.mdx
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ This is in contrast to most [package managers][pkg], which install things more q
 Future `nix run` invocations should be instantaneous, as Nix doesn't need to build the package again.
 </Admonition>
 
+<Admonition warning title="If you installed nix on your own" id="nix-run-loading" client:load>
+If you installed Nix by means other than the [Determinate Nix Installer][nix-installer], you'll probably need to manually enable the nix command and flakes 
+(if you're seeing an error about experimental features, this it you). you can find out how to activate those features on their respective Nix wiki 
+pages: see [nix command](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nix_command) and [flakes](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes).
+</Admonition>
+
+
 ## Explanation
 
 What happened here? The [Nix] CLI did a few things:
diff --git a/src/pages/start/3.nix-develop.mdx b/src/pages/start/3.nix-develop.mdx
index 76390e1e..28fc316e 100644
--- a/src/pages/start/3.nix-develop.mdx
+++ b/src/pages/start/3.nix-develop.mdx
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ type curl
 type git
 ```
 
+If your shell prompt didn't change, you should still be able to tell something happened by checking the `FUNNY_JOKE` variable added by the 
+development environment we just activated:
+```shell
+echo $FUNNY_JOKE
+```
+
 For curl, for example, you should see a strange path like this (the hash part should be different on your machine):
 
 <NixStorePath pkg="curl-8.1.1-bin" bin="curl" />