Meet Mike Brookman | ACE Cafe Bikes | Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike Brookman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
I believe to do anything well – you must practice. I have always been a “doer” versus a “tell me” kind of learner, When it came to tackling my interest in motorcycles it felt very good to dive right into it. Like most things in life – things aren’t just given to you and the more you work at something – usually – the more successful you’ll become. Good habits are hard to make and easy to break – staying focused with long term goals has always been my way of staying on track and working hard to achieve the results I’m looking for. Getting up early, making a list, try not to get distracted, and clean up after the day is done will encourage you to continue to do better.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Starting a YouTube channel was an outlet that we used to document the progress that we made with motorcycle building. In a way its also marked as a time capsule of watching my kids grow up as they have all been apart of this project. Its remarkable to reflect back and watch some of the first videos that we made to see how much people have changed. I have never claimed to be a great mechanic, maybe someday that will change – practice, practice, practice. As our YouTube adventure continues I hope that its also reflected in how our videos are presented, as those too, I hope will continually improve. Many people get fixated on the subscriptions and views – for us we do this because its fun. As my son says, when we hit 100,000 subs – maybe this can be his job – haha!

My background, professionally, has always been in manufacturing. I tried college several times, but without ever getting that degree I think that I have found success in where I am today. Currently I work for a global software company. I started using “our” software as a user for about 8 years. I had the opportunity to join this team as a Support Engineer, moving on to an Applications Engineer to my current position as a Regional Sales Manager. With more than 22 years of experience, I feel like this has been somewhat of a surprise that this much time has passed. Was it easy, no – but with that being said, it has been a journey as well. I love to continue to learn things and challenge myself to push into things deeper and deeper. Learning is living. One of the things that I have learned along the way – when someone refers to you as the expert – you probably are – HA! Software continually evolves and during that evolution there has to be someone to test it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The interesting thing is when you live in a place – you tend to forget all of the places that people would come to see – ha! However, there are come cool places to see and eat around us. One of the must go to spots for food in my opinion would be the Tap House West End and The Workshop, the food is great the atmosphere is fun, its impossible not to enjoy it. We dont live to far from the Mississippi River so this would be a fun day trip getaway for scenic drives, different terrain, and of course more food and drink.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This may come to a shock to some, but as a teenager I was really into motorcycles and found starting a family it was something that I had to let go. Motorcycles are more a of luxury where I live – not a daily or only form of transport. So, when my daughter, Emma, came up with the grand plan of buying a motorcycle for herself – this was the perfect opportunity to get back into something that I really enjoyed many years before. Without her interest I dont think that this would have ever taken the shape that it has. On the Youtube side of things – this was definitely from my son Chase – without his interest in being on YouTube I probably would have never started a channel.

Website: https://www.acecafebikes.com/

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/acecafebikes