The Sovereign Site Blueprint

"Infrastructure You Actually Own" — A Step-by-Step Guide for Micro-Business Owners

Why Digital Sovereignty Matters for Your Business

Most micro-business owners are trapped. They pay monthly subscriptions for website builders they can't export, analytics dashboards they don't understand, and "all-in-one platforms" that hold their customer data hostage. When they want to switch providers or scale up, they discover they don't actually own anything—they're just renting access.

The Sovereign Site Blueprint changes this.

Instead of renting infrastructure from proprietary platforms, you'll build a digital business on open, portable, exportable tools that you control. If you want to switch hosting providers tomorrow? You can. Want to export your customer data? It's already yours. Want to modify your automation workflows? You built them—go ahead.

This isn't about "doing everything yourself" or avoiding helpful services. It's about choosing tools that respect your ownership, give you full export capabilities, and never lock you into their ecosystem.

The Three Pillars of Digital Sovereignty

  1. Owned Infrastructure - Your website, your code, your hosting account (not a subdomain of someone else's platform)
  2. Portable Data - Every customer, order, and interaction is exportable in standard formats (CSV, JSON, SQL dumps)
  3. Transparent Automation - You can see, modify, and understand every workflow connecting your systems

By the end of this blueprint, you'll have built exactly that: a Shopify e-commerce store connected to Google Workspace through transparent Make.com automations—all fully exportable, all fully under your control.

What You'll Build (Without Hiring a Developer)

Your Complete Tech Stack:

Time & Cost Investment

Component Setup Time Monthly Cost
Shopify Store (Basic Plan) 2-3 hours $39
Google Workspace (Business Starter) 30 minutes $6/user
Make.com Automation (Free tier) 1 hour $0 (up to 1,000 ops/month)
Domain Name (AWS Route 53) 15 minutes $13/year (~$1.08/month)
Total Monthly 3.5-4.5 hours ~$46/month

Compare this to hiring a developer: $3,000-$5,000 upfront + $500/month maintenance. With the Sovereign Site Blueprint, you pay $46/month and understand how everything works.

Step-by-Step Automation: Connect Your Shopify Store to Google Workspace

Now that you've chosen your infrastructure, it's time to make it work together. This is where most entrepreneurs either pay a developer thousands of dollars, or waste 10+ hours per week manually copying data between systems.

You're going to do neither.

Instead, you'll use Make.com (formerly Integromat) to build visual automation workflows—no code required, no developer needed, and you'll understand every step.

What You'll Automate in 60 Minutes

Four Critical Workflows:

  1. New Shopify Order → Google Sheets - Automatic order logging for inventory tracking
  2. Customer Contact → Google Contacts - Build your CRM without manual data entry
  3. Order Fulfillment → Gmail Notification - Instant team alerts with order details
  4. Abandoned Cart → Google Drive Report - Weekly recovery opportunity reports

Step 1: Set Up Your Make.com Account

Account Creation (5 minutes)

  1. Go to Make.com and click "Get Started Free"
  2. Sign up using your Google Workspace email (simplifies authentication later)
  3. Verify your email address
  4. Skip the template suggestions—you'll build from scratch to understand the infrastructure

Philosophy Check: Templates are convenient, but building your first scenario manually ensures you'll never be confused about how your systems connect. This is your infrastructure.

Step 2: Connect Shopify to Make.com

Shopify Integration Setup (10 minutes)

  1. In your Make.com dashboard, click "Create a new scenario"
  2. Click the "+" button to add your first module
  3. Search for "Shopify" and select it
  4. Choose the trigger: "Watch Orders" (monitors for new orders in real-time)
  5. Click "Create a connection"
  6. You'll be redirected to Shopify—log in and authorize Make.com
  7. Select your Shopify store from the dropdown
  8. Set the trigger to watch for "New orders only"

What just happened? You gave Make.com read-only access to your Shopify orders. You can revoke this anytime in your Shopify settings under Apps → Make.com. You're in control.

Step 3: Send New Orders to Google Sheets

Google Sheets Order Log (15 minutes)

  1. First, create a Google Sheet named "Shopify Order Log" with these columns:
    • Order Number | Customer Name | Email | Total | Date | Status
  2. Back in Make.com, click the "+" button after your Shopify module
  3. Search for "Google Sheets" and select it
  4. Choose action: "Add a Row"
  5. Click "Create a connection" and authorize your Google Workspace account
  6. Select your spreadsheet: "Shopify Order Log"
  7. Map the fields by clicking each field and selecting Shopify data:
    • Order Number → Order Number
    • Customer Name → Customer: First Name + Customer: Last Name
    • Email → Customer: Email
    • Total → Total Price
    • Date → Created At
    • Status → Financial Status

What you've built: Every time someone places an order on Shopify, a new row automatically appears in your Google Sheet. No copy-pasting. No developer. No monthly subscription to a "Shopify analytics app." This is your data infrastructure.

Step 4: Add Customer to Google Contacts

Automatic CRM Building (10 minutes)

  1. Click the "+" button to add a third module (after Google Sheets)
  2. Search for "Google Contacts" and select it
  3. Choose action: "Create a Contact"
  4. Use the same Google Workspace connection
  5. Map the contact fields:
    • First Name → Customer: First Name
    • Last Name → Customer: Last Name
    • Email → Customer: Email
    • Phone → Customer: Phone (if available)
    • Notes → "Shopify customer since [Created At]"
  6. Bonus: Under "Advanced settings," enable "Update existing contact" to avoid duplicates if the same customer orders again

Step 5: Send Gmail Alert to Your Team

Instant Order Notifications (10 minutes)

  1. Add a fourth module: "Gmail" → "Send an Email"
  2. Use your Google Workspace connection
  3. Configure the email:
    • To: your fulfillment team email (or your own)
    • Subject: "New Shopify Order: [Order Number]"
    • Content: 
      New order received!

Customer: [Customer Name]
Email: [Customer Email]
Order Total: $[Total Price]
Items: [Line Items: Name]

View in Shopify: [Admin URL]
  4. Map each bracketed field using Shopify data from the dropdown

Real-World Impact: Your team gets instant notifications without paying for Shopify's premium notification plans. And because it's Gmail, they can reply to customers directly from the notification thread.

Step 6: Test Your Automation

Quality Assurance (10 minutes)

  1. Click "Run once" at the bottom of your Make.com scenario
  2. Make a test order in your Shopify store (use a $0 product or test mode)
  3. Watch Make.com process the scenario in real-time:
    • ✅ Green checkmarks = success
    • ❌ Red X = error (click to see what went wrong)
  4. Check your Google Sheet—new row should appear
  5. Check Google Contacts—new contact created
  6. Check Gmail—notification email sent

Debugging Tip: If something fails, click the error message. Make.com tells you exactly what went wrong (usually a missing field or incorrect mapping). Fix it and run again. This is part of understanding your infrastructure.

Step 7: Activate & Schedule

Go Live (5 minutes)

  1. Once your test succeeds, toggle "Scheduling" to ON
  2. Set the interval: "Every 15 minutes" (Make.com checks for new orders)
  3. Click "Save" and name your scenario: "Shopify → Google Workspace"
  4. Toggle the scenario to ACTIVE

You're Done. Your automation is now running 24/7 without maintenance:

  • Every Shopify order automatically logged in Google Sheets
  • Every customer automatically added to Google Contacts
  • Every fulfillment instantly notifies your team via Gmail
  • Zero manual data entry required

Advanced Automation Ideas (15-30 Minutes Each)

Now that you understand how Make.com connects your systems, here are three more workflows you can build:

1. Abandoned Cart Recovery Report

  • Trigger: Shopify "Watch Abandoned Carts"
  • Action: Google Sheets "Add Row" to "Abandoned Cart Report"
  • Action: Gmail "Send Weekly Digest" (use Make.com's built-in aggregator)

2. Low Inventory Alerts

  • Trigger: Shopify "Watch Products" (stock level changes)
  • Filter: Only when stock < 5 units
  • Action: Gmail "Send Alert" to your supplier with reorder details

3. Customer Feedback Loop

  • Trigger: Shopify "Watch Orders" (fulfilled status)
  • Delay: Wait 7 days (Make.com has a "Sleep" module)
  • Action: Gmail "Send Follow-Up" with Google Forms survey link

Why This Approach Beats Hiring a Developer

Approach Cost Timeline Maintenance Knowledge Transfer
Traditional Developer $1,500-$3,000 2-4 weeks $500+ for changes Developer owns code
Your Make.com Path $0-$9/month 1 hour (today) Drag-and-drop changes You built it. You own it.

This is what "Infrastructure You Actually Own" means:

You're not locked into proprietary software. You're not dependent on a developer's availability. You're not paying monthly fees for features you could build yourself in an hour.

You have Shopify (exportable product data), Google Workspace (portable email and docs), and Make.com (transparent, visual workflows). If you ever want to switch platforms, change one module. Your automation infrastructure is modular, transparent, and yours.

Next Steps: Launch Your Sovereign Site

You now have the complete blueprint for building a digital business on infrastructure you actually own. Here's your action plan for the next 7 days:

Day 1-2: Foundation Setup

  1. Register your domain name at AWS Route 53 ($13/year for .com domains — integrates directly with your future AWS infrastructure)
  2. Sign up for Google Workspace at workspace.google.com using your new domain ($6/month)
  3. Start your Shopify free trial at Shopify.com (3 days free, then $39/month)
  4. Connect your domain to Shopify (Shopify's setup wizard walks you through this)

Day 3-4: Store Configuration

  1. Choose a Shopify theme (start with a free theme—you can upgrade later)
  2. Add your first 5-10 products with descriptions and images
  3. Set up payment processing (Shopify Payments or Stripe—both are excellent)
  4. Configure shipping zones and rates for your target markets
  5. Create essential pages: About, Contact, Shipping Policy, Returns

Day 5-6: Automation Implementation

  1. Sign up for Make.com at Make.com (free plan)
  2. Build your first scenario: Shopify → Google Sheets (follow Section 2 of this blueprint)
  3. Test with a real order (use a $0 test product)
  4. Add customer automation: Shopify → Google Contacts
  5. Set up Gmail notifications for your team
  6. Activate and schedule your scenarios

Day 7: Launch & Verification

  1. Remove password protection from your Shopify store (Settings → Online Store → Preferences)
  2. Make a real test purchase (ask a friend or family member)
  3. Verify all automations fired correctly (Google Sheets, Contacts, Gmail)
  4. Share your store URL on social media, email list, or website
  5. Monitor your first sales and watch your automation infrastructure work

After 7 Days, You'll Have:

  • A professional Shopify store on your own domain
  • Google Workspace for business email and documents
  • Automated order logging in Google Sheets
  • Automated customer relationship management in Google Contacts
  • Instant Gmail notifications for new orders
  • Complete export access to all your data
  • The knowledge to modify and expand your automation workflows

Ongoing Optimization (Monthly)

Digital sovereignty isn't "set it and forget it"—it's about continuous ownership and improvement. Here's your monthly maintenance checklist:

Monthly Infrastructure Review (30 minutes):

  • Review Make.com scenarios - Are they running successfully? Any errors?
  • Export your data - Download Google Sheets order logs, export Shopify customer list (proves you own your data)
  • Check automation efficiency - Are you approaching Make.com's free tier limit? (1,000 operations/month)
  • Add one new automation - Pick from the "Advanced Ideas" section or create your own
  • Update documentation - Keep notes on what workflows you've built and why

When to Upgrade (Scale Indicators)

You'll know it's time to upgrade your infrastructure when:

  • Shopify: You exceed 50 orders/month → Upgrade to Shopify plan ($105/month) for better analytics and lower transaction fees
  • Make.com: You exceed 1,000 operations/month → Upgrade to Pro plan ($9/month) for 10,000 operations
  • Google Workspace: You hire team members → Add Business Standard ($12/user/month) for shared drives and advanced admin

The beautiful part? Every upgrade is your decision, made when your business needs it—not because a platform forced you into their premium tier.

Community & Support Resources

You're not building this alone. Here are the best community resources for each platform:

  • Shopify Community - community.shopify.com - Active forums with store owners sharing strategies
  • Make.com Community - forum.make.com - Automation experts and scenario templates
  • Google Workspace Help - support.google.com/a - Official documentation and troubleshooting
  • Reddit r/shopify - Real store owners discussing challenges and wins

What About Technical Support?

One concern I hear from business owners: "What if something breaks and I can't fix it?"

Here's the truth: With the Sovereign Site Blueprint, you have better support than traditional custom development:

  • Shopify Support - 24/7 live chat and phone support (even on the $39/month plan)
  • Make.com Support - 24-hour response time via help desk (even on free plan)
  • Google Workspace Support - Email and chat support for all paid plans

Compare this to hiring a developer who disappears after the project, charges $150/hour for "emergency fixes," and takes 48 hours to respond.

The Sovereign Mindset Shift:

Traditional thinking: "I need an expert to build this for me."

Sovereign thinking: "I'll use tools designed for business owners, learn the basics, and own my infrastructure."

You don't need to become a developer. You need to become competent with the tools that run your business. That's digital sovereignty.

Ready to Own Your Infrastructure?

This blueprint gives you everything you need to build a professional e-commerce business on infrastructure you actually own. No vendor lock-in. No proprietary platforms. No dependence on developers for simple changes.

But here's the reality: reading this blueprint isn't the same as implementing it.

Most business owners will read this, nod along, think "this makes sense," and then... do nothing. They'll go back to paying monthly subscriptions for tools they don't understand, copying data manually between systems, and hoping their developer responds to emails.

Don't be most business owners.

If you want hands-on guidance implementing this exact infrastructure—with me personally reviewing your Shopify setup, debugging your Make.com scenarios, and ensuring your automation workflows are bulletproof—I offer that as part of my Starter Tier consulting package.

It's not for everyone. It's specifically designed for micro-business owners (under $100K revenue) who are serious about digital sovereignty and willing to invest 4-6 hours over two weeks to build their foundation.

Get Personalized Implementation Support

Stop reading. Start building. Join the Starter Tier and implement your Sovereign Site with expert guidance.

Start Your Sovereign Site Today

✅ Starter Tier: $69/month (Regular $99 — Save $30)

✅ Includes: Shopify Setup Review | Make.com Scenario Debugging | Google Workspace Configuration

✅ Plus: Monthly office hours, email support, and access to the Sovereign Logic community

Limited to 10 clients per month — Apply now to secure your spot