A: A wise man once said, "The inevitable is never a sure thing."

Don't be so quick to close book on your business, Peter. You probably can't compete with superstore on volume of inventory or on price, but there are other things you can do to help keep customers coming in your door. One of best ways to ensure customer loyalty is to offer superior customer service.

It's funny that you're a bookseller. Let me tell you about my last visit to one of big chain bookstores just a few weeks ago.

I took my teenage daughter in to find classic book, The Once and Future King, for a school project that has to be done over summer. It was a Sunday afternoon and store was crawling with customers. We spent fifteen minutes scouring this great warehouse of a bookstore, but couldn't find book anywhere. We also couldn't find anyone who worked there to ask for help.

Finally, I went up to front counter and asked apathetic looking teenager who was manning register if they had book in stock. She looked at me as if I'd asked her to do advanced calculus in her head and said, "I dunno."

I asked if she might check her computer for me. She looked at me again, this time as if I'd just asked her to rotate tires on my car without a jack. After a minute of tapping keys with her long fingernails (which were painted black, by way) she said, "Yeah, we have it."

"Great," I said. "Where can I find it?"

She glanced at screen again and said, "It says that it's in classics section."

"Great," I said again. I use word "great" a lot when I'm trying to restrain myself from strangling incompetent sales people. "Where might classics section be?"

She didn't bother to look at me or computer this time. She just shrugged and said, "Beats me, man. I've only worked her a week. "

I wanted to ask if there was anyone who had worked there long enough to know where ^%$# classics section was, but by that time there were a dozen or so people lining up behind me to pay for books they had somehow managed to find on their own.

I went home and ordered book online. So much for supporting my local bookseller.

Agreed? Good, let's proceed.

To begin, here's best legal advice I can give you as a new business person: find yourself a good lawyer and make him or her your very best friend. Granted, your new best friend will charge you an hourly fee for chatting on phone or talking business over lunch, but you'll find it to be money well spent. A good attorney can save you far more than cost of his services. I rarely make any decision that has potential to impact my business without first consulting my attorney.

You can locate an attorney through legal referral services or just by opening phone book, but best way to find a really good attorney is to ask other business owners for references.

You want an attorney who specializes in business matters. A few of things you may need legal help with are: legal business formation, articles of incorporation, trademarks and copyrights, investment documents, employee policies, etc. You may find that a single attorney can't meet all your needs, but if you use a larger firm they will have attorneys on staff that can provide specialized services you require.

Now, let's take a brief look at a few questions I've received regarding legalities of starting a new business.

What's a DBA? "DBA" stands for "doing business as." A DBA is another name that you use in operation of your business other than legal name. For example, "Jones, Inc." might be legal corporate name of your business, but you might use "Bob Jones Landscaping" as everyday business name. In this case, you would see business described in legal context as "Jones, Inc. Doing Business As Bob Jones Landscaping."

Here's an example of using a DBA to launch a new venture within an existing business. A reader asked: "My wife incorporated a multimedia business three years ago, and I am starting a voice-over business. Is it more beneficial for me to open as a sole proprietorship or to operate within her multimedia business?"