Storytelling isn't just for bedtime or campfires! No matter what business you're in, sharing stories captures the attention of your ideal prospect, customer or associate. You paint a picture with your spoken or written stories that leaves a lasting impression in their mind.

The easiest way to incorporate storytelling is to use personal narrative examples. That's.a fancy literary word for talking about personal experiences in business.. Let me show you how this works.

Using Personal Narrative Examples (Personal Experiences) for Your Business

I'll demonstrate first, then share the teaching, then share a .

One way to incorporate life experiences in storytelling for business: Find the message in the mess.

Faith or Failure?

Training my own guide dog taught me the power of unshaking belief and unstoppable faith. Most blind people who get a guide dog go to a special school and stay there for a month. I not only didn't have that "luxury" of being able to drop my life for a month, but I also wanted to select and bond with my own dog.

Thunder and I met one cold December day, and I brought the multi-colored pup home to train her. At a couple of points in a puppy's life, she goes through a "fear imprint" stage.This means that one day everything's fine, and the next day something perfectly ordinary will spook the dog, for whatever reason, and they will either get over it -- or not.

Since Thunder was a guide dog in training, not merely a pet, she could go everywhere with me. We went on buses, trains, moving sidewalks and escalators. One day we waited at a bus stop adn Thunder's fear stage hit. Suddenly, the bus that we had been on every week day for a couple of months was a frightening monster. Thunder cowered under the bus bench, shaking.

My key moment happened right then.

when you're training a dog, your emotions transmit down the leash to the dog. I knew that I had to show complete faith and confidence in my dog. I could not allow myself the "luxury" of doubt, yet there were plenty of doubts that could have ruled me.

for example, if Thunder quaked in fear every time she saw a bus, we had no possible future together as a team. Living in a big city meant traveling on public transit nearly every day. And, if I wanted to dig deeper into doubt (which I refused to let myself do), I could have reminded myself of the importance of this moment. I could not keep a pet, and if Thunder flunked, I would have to get rid of her. We had bonded strongly and loved each other very much, so getting rid of her was unthinkable.

If I focused on the doubt and fear - if I wondered whether or not Thunder would make it - then she would have kept that fear of riding the bus. Within a couple of weeks, she would have become a poor candidate as a guide dog, and I would have to find her a good home. that would have broken my heart.

But what I did at that key moment changed everything. That decision and the fearless mindset I adopted got Thunder past her fear of the bus. After a few days of me acting as if nothing was wrong (which was true), her fear switch flipped off and she trotted high-tailed and happy onto the buses again.

I had complete belief in Thunder and her ability to be an excellent guide dog. And that is exactly what she became.

Because I chose to believe in her completely. I chose to act with resolve and faith, and I chose not to let a single doubt or speck of fear interfere with my dog living her greatness. Ever since this time, I have reminded myself to apply unshaking belief in the desired results, even in the face of possible failure.

While working with clients, I often notice that their doubts and fears come up, so do you know what I do? I relate the story of belief.

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The Teaching

The biggest lesson I learned from this experience has less to do with dog training than it does with the power of belief. Indeed, I was not teaching you about dog training, even though that was the vehicle driving the message. I taught you how belief brought about desired results, and how lack of belief would have brought about a completely different result.

In other words, I have just shown you how to find the message in your mess, or the power in your pain. I brought you into the emotions by sharing the feelings of doubt that could have changed the situation and how I refused to let them into my head. So you saw for yourself what the alternative would have been.

Ingredients of Life Experiences (Personal Narrative Examples) in Storytelling

Here's what you're doing.

You're taking an event from your life, emphasizing the emotion, and teaching your audience something through the use of the story. You're relating an experience and "connecting the dots" for the story receiver so that she takes the teaching into herself. The more you draw on emotion, the more powerful your story. The more powerful your story, the more you magnetize the right people to you.

I'm not the best at formulas, but if I had to create a formula for the use of personal narrative examples, I would say:

Experience + Emotion + Teaching + connecting the dots = powerful personal narrative

To discover how to tell powerful stories, be sure to register at http://ProfitableStorytelling.com