Thinking about launching your own website on Shopify for your product business? (Good idea! Here's why I love Shopify.) Maybe you're on Etsy and feeling restrained by the lack of control, or you're just ready to have a real home base for your business that'll help you grow long-term. This post is for you.

Here's what I see all the time: people jump straight into building before they've made the decisions that actually shape how the store comes together.

I often find people start thinking about Shopify by jumping right to which theme to use or what apps they should add before getting themselves actually set up. And then the whole process feels harder than it needs to be and gets overwhelming, fast.

Before you touch a theme, before you upload a single product, there are a few things worth sitting down and thinking through. These are the same questions I walk my students through at the very start of Shop School — and they change everything.

1. Get Clear on Your Goal (Your Actual Goal)

Not a vague "I want to make money" goal. A specific one.

Some examples:

• Earn $500/month from my store within 6 months
• Get 10 customers in my first month of launch
• Land my first wholesale order by the end of the year

Your main goal shapes every decision you make: what products you lead with, how you design your homepage, where you focus your energy after launch.

Then think about your secondary goals. These are the supporting outcomes that matter too: growing your email list by a certain amount, getting inquiries for custom work, building a presence that supports in-person events or wholesale. Secondary goals help you design a site that actually works for your business, not just looks pretty.

Write these down!

2. Define What Makes Your Brand Unique

I know — big question. But stay with me, because this one is worth spending time on before you build.

Your Shopify store is a chance to build a real brand, not just a shop. And the way your site is written, designed, and structured will reflect how clearly you've thought this through.

A few questions to help:

• What problem do your products solve?
• What is your unique style, approach, or story?
• Why would someone choose your store over a competitor?
• What values, materials, or processes make your products special?
• How would your customer describe your brand?

You don't need a perfect answer. This will evolve. But having a general sense of your positioning before you build means your site will feel intentional rather than like a list of products floating in space.

3. Decide Your Shipping and Returns Policy

This is the one people always get surprised by mid-build. You're deep into your theme, you're almost ready to launch, and then — wait, what do I charge for shipping?

Think through this now:

• Flat rate shipping (ex: $6.99 for all U.S. orders)
• Free shipping threshold (ex: free shipping on orders $50 and up)
• Calculated shipping (Shopify calculates it based on order weight and destination)

None of these is the "right" answer for your store. It depends on your products, your margins, and your customer expectations. But you want to have a plan before you launch, because your shipping policy affects your pricing, your checkout experience, and whether customers abandon their cart.

Also worth thinking through: do you want to accept returns? If so, what are the limits? A common approach is 15 or 30-day returns where the customer covers return shipping. Whatever you decide, remember that you can change this, even the day after you launch! But you do need to launch with something so customers know what to expect.

4. Figure Out Your Email List Incentive

Your email list is one of the most valuable things you can build for your business. Your website is your owned sales channel (we love that) and your email list is your owned marketing channel (we love that too).

With an owned channel, unlike Etsy -- where customer relationships belong to the marketplace -- your email list belongs to you.

But most people won't hand over their email address without a reason. It's a big ask! Before you launch, think about what you can offer that gives real value to your customer.

Some ideas:

• A digital download related to your products
• A free resource guide or how-to
• Early access to new products
• Free shipping on a first order
• A giveaway entry
• A small free gift with purchase

The best incentive is one that gives your customer the first step they need to become a real customer. If you sell paper flower kits, a free intro workshop on how to get started with paper flowers is perfect. If you sell eco-friendly kitchen goods, a guide to reducing plastic waste in your home makes sense.

Have this figured out before you launch your site so you can build the signup right into your homepage and footer and won't have a generic "Sign up for my email list" on your site. 

The goal here isn't to have everything figured out before you start. It's to not be completely starting from scratch once you're inside Shopify.

Give yourself 10–15 minutes on each of these, make a decision, and trust that you can change it later. Because you can! What these decisions do is give you a foundation to build from, so that you don't get stumped when you're designing your store.

Building gets a lot faster and a lot more fun when you actually know what you're building toward.

P.S. If you already have a Shopify store and you're ready to focus on sales, check out my Order Up! Workshop — it's all about getting your first (or next) 100 sales.