 Maybe we could get a nice little neon sign right here that says, Noodle's b**ch. After eight months in quarantine, I see a stranger on the side of the road and I'm like, you could be my forever person. Boom! Ooh, let's go to Waco! I'm kind of at a loss for words. Hi guys, thank you so much for watching this week's episode of Tools to the Trade. My name is Jonathan, Noodle is here. I promise you Noodle is here, but he is, he's comfortable and who am I to disrupt that? And this week I am, as all weeks prior, I am very excited to share with you this entrepreneur. His name is Todd Sanders of Roadhouse Relics. And some of you might know him not only from the content we've posted about him, but because he's a pretty well-known artist. Todd focuses on neon contemporary art, which I totally blew me away. Someone told me that and I was like, what's that? And then I went to his website and I got to see some of his work and this guy is amazing. I think what's kind of interesting about neon is that it sort of has this connotation with it that it's like old or vintage or like I think of the motel on the side of the road that's missing the M, you know what I mean? And I'm like, when I see neon, I don't really think art. But this guy's really elevated this medium. Any of these huge pieces he makes, whether they involve metal or anything, like he weathers the metal himself, he really, he designs all of these pieces, start to finish. And he's really, really incredible and he's very celebrated and he has celebrity clients like Johnny Depp, ZZ Top, Kings of Leon commissioned him to make an album cover for them. Like this guy is the real deal. And he's just like from a small town in Texas and lived in a trailer and made his art and he's just awesome. He's great. So I'm so excited to share this box with you. I could use some neon art in this. Maybe we could get a nice little neon sign right here that says noodles. OK, so the first thing I see, the first thing I see are jalapeno flavored potato chips. First of all, this guy's from Texas. So something tells me he's got to have a little flavor. Even if it's a potato chip, these are the kettle brand and kettle potato chips are the only potato chip I can even consider. So you know this guy's got fine taste in art and he clearly has fine taste in snacks as well. And I bet he's laboring over these pieces for hours and hours and hours. I can imagine that one bag is not enough. So kudos to you, Todd. You've got fine taste. The next item we've got is how to win friends and influence people. The only book you need to lead to success. And I have to say, I think I might need to read this one. After eight months in quarantine, I see a stranger on the side of the road and I'm like, you could be my forever person. And it's like, no, hold back. Hold back. Oh, my God. Todd feels very, and I think a lot of artists probably feel this way is when someone's purchasing a piece of art or specifically if they've commissioned from something from him. It's a really personal purchase. It's like a very personal relationship is forming and you guys are creating something kind of together. And he's read this book many, many times over. And he says that this is just a really great way that helps him to kind of keep that focus and help to be collaborative and effective when working with people. Love this. Probably something we should all read. I have another book that I'm supposed to read about how to save my money and retire early, but sorry, dad. I haven't read it yet and I don't know where it is. All right. So the next item we have in the Todd Sanders box is it's just a big dryer wasteboard. So I really like this as an item in this box because he's obviously, this guy's an artist. So I would imagine that he must have a sketch pad of some kind. But this is probably something that he uses for sketches or just drawing sort of like ideas where he can add color really quickly to it and he can erase anything. I bet this is actually probably more effective than like a drawing pad, especially if he's doing kind of like big designs. Obviously, if he's doing something a little more like nuanced, he might need to do more finer detail, but I bet this is just like a very useful, very easy sketch pad that he uses. Love this. This guy, man. This guy knows what he's doing. OK, and the next item is a one-two punch. Boom. I figured this was going to come, but I wasn't actually sure I hadn't seen it in the box yet. Oh, I closed this early. I never closed the box early. I always put everything back inside, but we're going to roll with it today. I am not surprised by this kind of big sketch pad. Oh, this isn't a sketch pad. I thought this was a big sketch pad. This is a map of Texas. This is a map of all the roads in Texas. So wherever you want to go in Texas, you can get there. So this guy's lived all over Texas. He's a native Texan. And I think the neon, a lot of what sort of inspired him to do to do neon is there were a lot of he did drive by a lot of those old vintage neon signs. And he saw that kind of lit up a lot of Texas. And as much as he loves the state, I know that that medium is something that's kind of an homage to Texas's history. All right, tell me where you want to go in Texas. Tell me one place you want to go in Texas, the Alamo. You want OK, I'll take you right to the Alamo. Oh, wow, this is a big. Oh, let's go to Waco. When I think of Texas, unfortunately, I do think of Waco. That is what I think of. But I did watch a fabulous documentary on the Waco disaster and Hulu. If anyone is interested, it's real. They f- they fumbled. Everyone kind of fumbled the ball. It was like a weird football game where they had more balls in the they had like multiple balls at one time and everyone lost it. But let me tell you, wow, the Texas federal agents dropped the ball. And then they set the ball on fire and they killed a lot of innocent balls. Again, like you guys, this is not only a map of Texas. This is a map of every back road, any place you could go in the state of Texas. And he tells us that, although you can use obviously your cell phone to get directions to wherever you need to go, if he's looking for inspiration or he really is just like, you know what, I don't want to go to one of these big cities. I want to go to a small tiny town in Texas no one's ever heard of. And I want to know what makes them special. He uses this map and he just takes the back roads to get to where he wants to go. And whatever he sees along the way helps to inspire him for a new piece, a new collaboration, whatever it might be. And I think that's really thoughtful. And then the last thing, which I thought was a one, two punch with this because I thought it was a sketch pad is a little container of pencils. I believe these are here because he does sketch and although he doesn't, you know, he's got his little board that he uses. I bet for probably some finalized sketching. I bet when he does like just original ideas, you know, I doubt he has a white board with him in the passenger seat of his car. So if he's driving around and he's getting, you know, he's seeing all this stuff getting inspired, I bet he's got a little pad or something. And he always keeps a pencil near him. Again, he designs all of his own artwork, not in the sense that he'll like if a piece is on a piece of scrap metal, you know, he uses a piece of scrap metal as a base for some of his neon, some of the tubing that I'll use for this neon, that metal was weathered by him. Like this guy does the whole and I think a lot of artists, like obviously they appreciate that and they understand that. Like this is not, there's no sort of like appropriation. Like this guy creates everything by hand, fully by hand. And it is fabulous. This guy is so smart and he's got a great tool box. Oh, there's another item. Oh my God, there's another item. But it was too big to fit in the box. So you're going to give it to me now, Stetson. Are these, these are like, what is this legendary hats? Oh, is this guy a hat wearer? Is this guy one of these, these people that loves? Oh, wow. Oh, man. Oh, wait, this is really cool. I don't wear hats, but this is very, very cool. Can I take it out of the packaging? Oh, I, oh my God, I'm kind of kind of at a loss for words. This is really, really great. So clearly this guy has, as an artist, he has a keen eye for style. And I bet this is one of those little things that he doesn't leave home without a hat on his hat. I bet he's one of those guys. Yes, his 59 Chevy and his hat and he goes to make his art and he sells it to celebrities. Can I tell you, Todd, you have cracked the code. You have cracked the code. May we all be more like Todd. I actually am, I really am so, I love learning about like entrepreneurs and small business owners and these kinds of things are so fascinating, but I have a background in art. I studied a bunch of art at school while I was getting my marketing communications degree. So whenever I can learn more about like an artist, it's my favorite thing to do. Whenever you look at a piece of art or you go to a museum, you are allowed to like or dislike anything you see. But if you don't know the who, what, where, when and why behind that piece, you are making an uninformed decision. So there's like art out there that is hard to look at. It's like kind of gross and kind of ugly, but then you realize like when it was made, who was made and what was the purpose it was made by and it might have a totally different meaning to you. Again, I'm so grateful you guys took the time to watch this week's episode. I think this box was spectacular. I'm still blown away by this hat. I also just watched Haunting of Hill House. So it kind of looks a little bit like the spooky hat from that house. So I'm also like, oh, I'm not gonna put it on my head. But if you guys like this video and you wanna see more like it, please like and subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to ring the bell to get notifications anytime a new tools video or another video that we produce goes live on our channel. And Noodle did not show himself once this episode. I promise you guys that he's here. He's so sweet. Yeah, are you sleepy prince? Okay, so for myself, for Noodle and for Todd and his amazing taste, thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time.