ENTRY #7
Ours & Real
THE MUSIC
OURS
I finished “The Beginning”. It’s written, arranged, recorded, mixed, and mastered. Whew!
It’s a strange feeling to have a song completely finished, but not really out in the world yet. For now, it still feels mostly like ours.
I’ve played it for a few people, and every time I do, I feel a little exposed. There’s no disguising how personal our story is in this song. There’s not much hiding behind metaphor or character. It’s personal, and hearing it come through the speakers while someone else is sitting there listening feels very different than when I’m alone with it. It’s also not what people would probably expect from me musically, which makes releasing it feel like even more of a leap.
But I think that’s part of what makes it right for Whiteboard.
This project was never supposed to be about making the safest thing or the most obvious thing. It was about making something that felt true to us, represented the best of us, and seeing where that took us.
So right now, I’m enjoying this funny little space where “The Beginning” is finished, a handful of people have heard it, and most of you haven’t.
For just a little longer, it’s still ours… then it will be all of ours.
Mindi 🎶
THE WINE
REAL
I have spent most of my career working with wine brands, old, large, boutique, new —names like Kendall-Jackson & Mumm Napa, Some 500+ others in total.
At first, they are just brands. A name. A label. A business plan. A set of numbers. Then I get close to them. I learn what makes them special. I start to worry over the details and I protect them. They stop feeling like something I manage… and start feeling like something I am responsible for.
Somewhere along the way, the brand becomes real. For Whiteboard, maybe it was when I was drawing the W icon over and over again until it was perfect. I don’t know, and it’s different for every brand I’ve been fortunate enough to manage.
With only a few more months to go for launch, Whiteboard has just become real to me.
The difference is that Mindi and I did not step into this one after it already existed. We started with nothing more than an idea. Then came the wine, the song, the design, the decisions, the second-guessing, and all the tiny things no one else will ever know we worried about.
Now it is almost time for Whiteboard to leave our little world and enter yours. I am proud. Excited. Nervous. Protective. All at once.
For a few more weeks, it still belongs mostly to us. Soon, people will open the bottle, hear the song, and decide for themselves what Whiteboard means to them.
That is what we wanted from… the beginning.
It is also a little harder than I expected.
Eric 🍷
