Chris Gronkowski Talks Football, Fitness, and Entrepreneurship

Football is a huge part of American culture. It’s on our screens three days a week; the Super Bowl is practically a national holiday; and its star athletes are looked at more like celebrities, influencing thousands, if not millions, of people across the globe. 

But have you ever thought about what happens once those athletes leave the field for the last time? 

For players whose names aren’t Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, or Aaron Rodgers, real life sets in quickly. For some, this means pursuing a career. For others, like Chris Gronkowski, it meant finding his passion and turning everything he’d learned from sports into a multi-million dollar business. 

On Founding Ice Shaker and Finding His Passion After Football 

“Some guys are set for life,” Gronkowski says, speaking about the NFL’s superstars. “Other guys, like me, definitely weren’t set for life. I had a decent amount of money in the bank, but I wasn’t even a millionaire after playing three years in the NFL.” 

After going undrafted in 2010, Gronkowski made the roster for the Dallas Cowboys and went on to play for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos throughout his three-year professional career.

“It was a great start for me,” says the fullback of his time in the NFL. “I definitely consider it a win as an undrafted player that ended up getting a pension, and a good chunk of money into my bank account, which then allowed me to go into the entrepreneurship world.” 

After ending his career on the field, Gronkowski began his journey into the world of business thanks to his wife Brittany. 

“My wife, after spending three years with three different teams, decided to work from home. She wanted to find a way to not go for another job interview, and by doing so, she started an online business. It was a personalization company, and when I got done playing, I actually did that for five years with her. We grew it to the point where we were actually making money – more money than when I was playing in the NFL. It was a pretty successful, really cool venture that we still have today, but about five years into it, I realized that personalized wedding and holiday gifts weren't really me,” Gronkowski laughs. 

“When my family and friends would ask what I was doing, I would be like ‘yeah, I’m just kind of doing my thing,’ but it wasn’t my passion. But I was working out one day, and thought of the idea for a shaker bottle, and realized that it was a great opportunity for me to get back into what I love doing, which is sports, health, and fitness. I just jumped on that opportunity at that point,” Gronkowski says, describing the aha moment that led to the creation of the Ice Shaker, a line of premium stainless steel shaker bottles.

Since being inspired on that hot Texas day, Gronkowski has grown the business into a multi-million-dollar company, even appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank and receiving offers from all five sharks. 

On Applying Lessons Learned From Football to Business 

“I never thought I would be an entrepreneur myself,” said Gronkowski, who grew up watching his dad grow a fitness equipment business from one store to 15 different locations on the east coast.

Whether it was in his genes or a product of the values instilled in him after years of football, Gronkowski has come to realize how much his time in the NFL prepared him to be a business owner. 

“I tell people all the time: take that same passion and effort that you put into football and put it into your second career. If you really think about all the time and effort you put into getting to the NFL, when we finally get paid, it will take a half – if not a tenth – of that same effort to be successful in the business world. It could be 10-plus years of effort, skills, time in the weight room, training, etc. that you put in to have an opportunity to make it, and maybe only play for a year or two,” the fullback says of the effort needed to make it in the world of football.

“If you think about it that way, and you take the same effort and intensity and put it into the next stage of your life, you’re going to be successful no matter what you’re doing.” 

Gronkowski’s words of wisdom didn’t come easily, though. 

“As an entrepreneur, it actually took me a long time to figure this out. I’d say it probably took me about three or four years to really run the business the right way,” the Ice Shaker founder says. 

“I was super competitive. I came out of the league and thought I could do everything on my own. When I started my business, it was like I was going to take on the world. And what I didn’t realize is that you have to build a team and put the processes in place if you want to win a championship.” 

“I left these amazing organizations where you had a head coach, system coaches, and players, and I went into business trying to be all of them at once,” says Gronkowski, discussing his early stages of entrepreneurship. 

“I was putting in hundred-plus hour weeks, working every single day, and doing everything I could to be successful, but it just wasn’t clicking for me that you can’t do it all on your own, no matter how good you are at a certain task. I couldn’t put my full effort into it because there was just not enough time in the day.” 

About three years into the business, just around the beginning of the pandemic, the decision to build a team was made for Gronkowski. 

“I had two kids at that point and just had my third, and everything shut down. At that point, I physically couldn’t do it all anymore because of the restrictions and the kids and it was just absolute mayhem,” he says, recalling the turning point for building Ice Shaker’s team. 

“I realized this can’t just be about me anymore. I have to build a team, and when I did, what was crazy is everyone loved it. Everyone responded. I almost felt like I was putting a burden on other people by asking them to do tasks that I could do myself, but when I started doing it, I realized that now they feel like they’re part of the team. They now understand why they’re brought in, and they now have the ability to make decisions and make everyone else better, as well,” he says. 

“The scary part of putting the burden and feeling bad on other people ended up being this blessing that people responded to very well and jumped all over. So it was really cool to see that, and that’s kind of when it clicked that this is exactly the same thing as a football team. I’m the head coach; I’m not the assistant coach or the player anymore. I get to be the head coach, and I get to put the strategy and plans in place,” Gronkowski continues. 

“That’s by far the biggest thing that came out of playing sports, especially at a high level and with a great organization. It just took me a little bit to kind of figure out that’s what business is all about, as well.” 

On Balancing Entrepreneurship, Family and Fitness 

Turning his passion for health and fitness into a business was only half the battle for the middle Gronkowski, who also faced a challenge familiar to many: balancing work, fitness and family. 

“I’ve worked out since I was 14 years old. It’s one of those things that I just can’t stop doing,” he says. Now a father of four, Gronkowski hasn’t given up his passion for fitness, but merely modified it. 

“I prioritize my workouts by going first thing in the morning. My routine is: wake up and attack a couple smaller tasks that are important to get through to set my day up, and then I go to the gym. I spend my first hour and a half at the gym and have to be at the gym at 5:30am to be home in time to get my kids to school. So that first hour, hour and fifteen minutes every day is kind of my time to take care of myself and go to the gym. It’s almost like a sense of accomplishment every morning when I go to the gym and work out,” Gronkowski says, talking through how he manages everything on his plate. 

“It’s that or workout with the kids, which during the pandemic, I became a master of that. There’s times where it takes the kids 30 minutes to eat, and I have to sit there and feed them, and in between every bite, you can get a full set. That time is a really good time to do abs, too, I can tell you that,” he laughs. 

“I’ve pretty much figured out how to work out and make no excuses, no matter what,” Gronkowski continues. 

“It’s all about time management. I do think that’s one thing that also came from playing sports that I didn’t hit on earlier. In college, if you can get through that as an athlete, you can do anything. Your schedule literally every day in college is booked every minute. For the most part, you’re waking up, going right to workouts, right to classes, going to practice, you’re getting home and studying for the next day – every single day is absolute mayhem. I got to the NFL and was like ‘this seems easy now,’ so if you can get through that, still get good grades and still perform on the field, you’ve pretty much figured out how to prioritize everything in your life at this point. I think a lot of that helped me significantly as an entrepreneur.” 

From fitness to dad duties to running a business, Chris Gronkowski seems to have found a way to do it all. He’s proof that if you put your mind to it, whether that’s becoming a professional athlete or running a successful business (or both, in his case), what it comes down to is determination and the willingness to push through. 

“If you want to do it, there’s a way to get it done. If anyone says it can’t be done, it’s a complete lie. I probably can’t be any busier than I am, so if I can get it done, anyone can get it done.” 

You can read more about Chris and Ice Shaker here, or follow him on IG @chrisgronkowski.