The first time I launched a product I was so nervous. Product launches are a roller coaster of emotions.

You slave away in your little corner. And finally, you create a product that you are really proud of. And then you hit publish and hope and pray that other people see the value of your hard work.

You fret if you’ve:

• positioned it properly
• priced it right
• included all the needed features
• understood the needs of your customers

For the past several months I’ve been in monk mode toiling away to bring the artist’s Courtyard live. And it’s now open for registration.

I’m really proud of bringing this project that I’ve been dreaming about for 8 years. And I’m going to keep working, tweaking, and listening to your feedback because I know it has the power to put the ease back in legalese for you.

Anytime I work on my business, I try to practice what I preach.

• I tell you your website needs a privacy policy and terms of service that are easy to understand. So I wrote one that way.
• I tell you to do a trademark search before you launch your product or service (or get attached to a name). So I did a trademark search.
• I tell you to register your copyrights. And I register mine.

And this launch was no exception.

Today I thought I would pull back the curtain on my launch. And share with you the “get all my legal ducks in a row” product launch checklist that I created for my launch. And to make life easier for you, members of the artist’s Courtyard can grab a copy of my “stay legit” product launch checklist below.

During the early planning stage

This launch had a longer than usual lead-time. And that’s because there was a lot I needed to get in place before launching. So the two planning stage tasks I started months ago, like at least six months ago.

Unanimous Written Consent

Since 2015, the artist’s J.D. legally has been the artist’s J.D. LLC. Because the artist’s J.D. is an LLC all business decisions must be documented. LLCs must document business decisions because it shows that the LLC isn’t the owner’s piggy bank or just a way to shield assets. Documenting these decisions keeps the fence between your personal and business assets strong. Which, of course, is the primary reason most people file for an LLC. My general rule is that I document the following business decisions:

• creating or ending a revenue stream
• opening or closing financial accounts
• purchasing something that costs more than two times my normal monthly expenditures
• changing my Operating Agreement
• changing my addresses
• applying or renewing licenses, permits, or fictitious business names
• signing contracts
• changing team members or their compensation (either hiring or firing employees or starting or ending an independent contractor relationship)
• purchasing or renewing insurance policies
• filing trademark applications
• filing copyright registration applications

And obviously, the artist’s Courtyard touched on many of these items. So those choices needed to be documented in a Unanimous Written Consent.

Because I document a lot of business decisions. I sit down at the beginning of each quarter and review the decisions I made. And then write a Unanimous Written Consent for all of those decisions. Since I last fall, every quarterly check-in required me to document launch-related items.

Trademark search

No one wants to launch and then have to change the product name. Usually, this happens because you get a nasty lawyer letter. And this letter tells you that your name infringes on their client’s trademark. So last fall, I also conducted a detailed trademark search on a couple of the names I was considering.

Based on this detailed search one of the names was eliminated. And from the remaining names, I settled on the artist’s Courtyard.

Leading up to the launch

the artist’s Courtyard had a soft launch at the beginning of March. So prior to that soft launch, I did two things. And then a few weeks back, I decided to include a viral giveaway component to the official launch and this got added to the list.

Update website documents

Before the soft launch, I also had to update some of my website documents to reflect the new features. So I worked through the terms of service and privacy policy questions. And I brainstormed ways that I might want to change my disclaimer.

Over the weekend, I realized that the “agree to my terms” checkbox wasn’t on the checkout form. So before the official launch, I corrected this. I wanted to do this so that I was forming a valid contract with the artist’s Courtyard members.

Register my copyrights

I always remind you of the importance of registering your copyrights. So, I completed a copyright registration application for all the artist’s Courtyard current content. To help me stay on top of these registrations, I’ve created a system. This system allows me to cost-effectively register new content as it’s released.

Giveaway compliance

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about viral giveaways. Most of the viral giveaways I see aren’t legally compliant. And so, I decide to dig into them and see if it was something that could be done legally. It turns out you can. And so I decided to host a viral giveaway. And offer five 1-year memberships to the artist’s Courtyard to the winners.

Tasks you might need to do

That was all the tasks that I needed to do for my launch, but I also ruled out that I didn’t need to:

• obtain a new DBA/FBN statement
• get any new licenses or permits
• create a contract (since my terms of service formed the contract)
• create materials for my affiliates
• assure I was properly keeping my PACT since I was being an affiliate of someone else’s product
• update my email marketing materials to comply CAN-SPAM Act

After launch

Now that the artist’s Courtyard is launched I’ve got two on-going tasks on my plate.

Update my Intellectual property spreadsheet

I’ve got a Google Sheets file that outlines all the content that I’ve created for my business. It shows when it was created and launched. It shows when I applied for the copyright. And when I get the registration certificate, I update it with the registration number.

Each time I create new content for the artist’s Courtyard, I’ll update this spreadsheet. Allowing me to keep track of all my business’ intellectual property in one place.

Register a trademark

To get a registered trademark, you must be selling the product or service that you are registering. Now that I’ve launched the artist’s Courtyard, I can apply for a trademark. And if all goes well, I’ll have a registered trademark in about a year!

So that’s everything that was on my “legit launch” product launch checklist!

Of course, my launch involved lots of other moving pieces and there were other things on my to-do list. But this was the checklist I used when it came to keeping the legal ducks in a row for my launch.

Does this give you confidence when it comes to launching your next product or service? Let me know in the comments below.

And I’d love for you to join us in the artist’s Courtyard. Click here to learn more about it.