8 Reasons I’m Starting A Business Built on Betterment

a.k.a. eight reasons why you want betterish in your life

IMAGINE THIS: What if you walked into work and your boss told you to make a mess? What if your teacher told you that a C is just as good as an A because you still learned something in the process and that counts more than the final outcome? What if we were all encouraged to make a list of our mistakes to use them as strategies? This is what Betterish is all about: less striving for perfectionism, more learning through progress.

Through in-person workshops, creative consulting, pop up events, and various forms of storytelling, Betterish is a platform dedicated to exploring the small actions, experiences, and lessons that lead to bigger things. Because when we take the time to notice and reflect, it usually has a pretty powerful way of taking us to something better. 

So why do I think the world needs Betterish?

1.)   To connect more meaningfully to ourselves, to those around us, and, often times, our life’s work. We're living in a time of great disconnect and divide. We're attached to our phones, rely on our iPads, and request a lot from our Alexa's. We're constantly being bombarded with content. Content of heavy things, beautiful things; lots and lots of things. We're always ON, yet at the same time disengaged with the people directly next to us. Betterish exists to close this divide through hands-on experiences that promote betterment.

2.)   To celebrate progress over perfectionism. The little moments that get us to the bigger things---giving credit to what might appear ordinary or mundane. (I dare you to tell me about one of those moments in a comment below…)

3.)   To make a mess. The majority of Betterish workshops are arts-based, with lots of room to get hands dirty and hearts happy.

4.)   To uplift other people’s voices. Betterish actually started solely as a blog where I invited a wide range of people to share their stories of "doing it betterish." The content of these stories continues to vary quite vastly, but all have the common thread of betterment in some shape or form.

 5.)   To work with a broad scope of people, organizations and institutions. It’s really important for me personally to work with different kinds of people and places. It keeps the work fresh, diverse and versatile. In the past year alone, I’ve collaborated with organizations ranging from bakeries (Rebel Bead), libraries (Denver Public Library, Anythink Libraries), social justice non-profits (ReCreative Denver, Warm Cookies of the Revolution) and Marketplaces (Stanley Marketplace, Zeppelin Station).

6.)   To lighten things up. We have tendencies to be hard on ourselves, and sometimes taking ourselves…well, a little too seriously. With offerings like Flow+Dough and The Meet Cart, elements of play and downright silliness are incorporated to allow folks to soften, smile, and let go of some fear, awkwardness and rigidity along the way.

7.)   To slow down. To nourish curiosity, creativity and real-life human connections. To explore possibilities. And ultimately: to acknowledge the little things that are actually make a bigger impact.

8.)   To feel good enough. Not the best---but: plenty, fuller and brighter than the days before.

Want to help get this work in the hands of more people? Support the growth of Betterish here.  

"One by one, Betterish is bringing kindness, creativity, & education to people every single day. And little by little, the work Emily is doing is building people up and making our communities better. The ripples of that are touching lives across the globe more than we know. We should all strive to be betterish everyday. 

I chose to donate to the Betterish campaign so the funding can be used as much as possible to continue the impactful work Betterish is doing." - Jacquelyn Bartels, Denver-based Designer