The blogger at the blog seclater (and I am unable to determine who this blogger is) extols storytelling as a marketing tool in a way that is not new to me. But he (or she) offers an "if-I-can-do-it-anyone-can" story of entrepreneurial success:

I had quit my full-time job without any savings, filed for divorce, put my house up for sale, sold my major possessions, loaded the car up with my dog and relocated halfway across the country, moved in with my mother back into my childhood bedroom, withdrew money from my retirement account to get me through the first few months, and set up shop in my mother’s garage. I was just a failure waiting to happen, but I didn’t fail, amazingly enough. I use this story to illustrate the point that no matter what the odds, if you want to start a business and be successful, you can do it –and I’m living proof that anyone can do it — and if you don’t have all of these risk factors staring you in the face, you stand a much greater chance of success than I ever did!

The blogger also offers this advice on entrepreneurial stories:

Come up with a fairly short, 1-2 minute story statement of how you got to where you are today and how that impacted why you do what you do. Make it interesting, share the ups and downs and put your stories on your website, on your business card, in your brochure, on your blog, and incorporate them into your elevator speech. I guarantee you’ll start developing fans right away!

One of the commenters to seclater pointed out a video of Dame Anita Roddick, the late founder of The Body Shop, who used stories to educate the public and gain awareness for the store’s line of natural cosmetics. In the video, she discusses how effective story-telling became part of Body Shop’s PR program.

Oh, and one more cool thing about the blogger at seclater: He or she says: "One of my favorite pastimes as a child was to hang out with my mom and aunts for the 'adult conversations' that weren’t really suitable for children’s ears." Me, too! What I didn't realize until I read the seclater blog posting was that it was probably the stories that drew me to these adult conversations.