Get capital money.  Have a product to sell.  Get advertising, whether it’s in the newspaper, on TV, or Chicago email marketing.  However you do it, get your name out there.  Treat your customers fairly.  Manage your money wisely.  These are all steps toward getting your business off the ground and running.  I followed them all carefully and cautiously.  So why I am filing for bankruptcy now?  I had to go and sell my house!  I grew up in that house!  It passed through 4 generations of my family and now it’s gone for good.  All I wanted was my own used book store.  People like used books, don’t they?  I’m sure they do!  Then why didn’t anyone ever come into my store?  I blanketed the area with advertisements.  There was email in every inbox in the suburb and the 5 surrounding it.  People knew the store was opening.  They knew what deals and bargains we were offering.  So where were they?  People still read!  I know they do.  There’s still chain bookstores around and there’s bestsellers’ lists in the major newspapers.  That’s more than enough people buying books and then reading them.  They’re reading them a lot.  So why aren’t they buying and reading my books?