Which account to use in this community?

[T_Gunter]

Hey community!  I'm new in here.  My goal is to use the community when I get stuck rebuilding a Shopify store and to share what I'm learning along the way. (https://blacklabelsupplements.com/)

First couple of questions:

1. Shopify Account Structure: I am not the business owner.  For the last few years, I have used just used the admin account to login to Shopify Dashboard.  Should I create a separate staff account for myself?  Or, just keep using the admin login?  Benefits or drawback of each?  I do most the stuff on the account, but there are other staff who share the admin account.
2. Shopify Community Account: As an extension of the above.  Do I have to use the admin account in this community?  Or, can I create a personal account without owning a shopify store?  I do want this to stay separate in case I move on to a different job.
3. Further, If I do leave this job, would I still be able to participate in this community?  Or, do you have to have an active store, or staff account with an active store?

Thanks for your responses.  I'm excited to be a part of this community.

[StephensWorld · Accepted solution]

Shopify Account Structure: Sharing the main 'owner' account with others is strongly not recommended. That's a security risk, waiting to happen. Each person working on the store should have their own staff/collaborator account, with 2FA enabled. There are some settings in the Shopify admin that only the store owner can edit, like payment gateways, but those are usually things that are 'set once and forget it'. 

Shopify Community Account: Your Shopify account can have access to more than one store. Like when you login with Shopify, it'll show a list of all of your stores, and you'll select which one you want to work on, to end up in that store's back-end/admin. I don't think you need to have an active Shopify store in order to use the forums. If you're going to be working on a bunch of stores for clients, you should sign up for a Shopify Partners account though (rather than just using a regular one), as Partner accounts (collaborators) don't count towards the store's total number of allowed staff members (based on the monthly Shopify plan you're on). 

"If I do leave this job": If you're using that specific store's owner account to make your forum posts, then if you 'leave the job' (ie. no longer have access to the account), then you'd no longer have access to your forums account (as they're tied together). So you should probably make your own Shopify account (either a regular one, or a Partners one), so that if you ever move on from a specific store, you don't need to start a new Shopify account every time (to access the forums). 

TLDR: An "account" is not the same as a "store". An account has access potential to multiple stores. Your account is what's tied to the ecommerce forums, not the store. Multiple people shouldn't be sharing the "owner" account for a specific store. 

[T_Gunter]

That all makes sense.  I went ahead and made a personal Shopify account.  I don't plan to work on a bunch of client stores at this point.  I guess that can change as I gain experience and build something awesome at my current job.

Appreciate the help.