John Bronson

I was an undrafted free agent when I entered the league, but I knew how the league worked — one day you could be there and the next, you couldn’t. I surrounded myself out of the gate with people who were doing better than I was on the business side of things, and met others who were successful in business.

I did my best to learn from them and get a glimpse of what things are like as an entrepreneur or a businessman. I took measures early on to set the table for what was going to happen after I left the league.

I knew I didn’t want to work for anybody else. Then, the realization came when I felt I physically couldn’t work for anyone else. There is only one other avenue, and that is to create it yourself.

Every player goes through a grey area. It sucks to be cut regardless of where you were. For a little while, I was trying to play again, but there was a point in which I came to the realization that I should move on. I went back to the basics and read a lot of books and listened to a lot of speakers. I wanted to elevate my marketing skills and understand different systems and operations to utilize whatever I was going to do moving forward. The process was not easy.

It was a mix of football aspects, but I was also in a few business ventures at that time. I had a venture in the real estate market and lost my hand in a deal that I didn’t monitor well. That was one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had, because it opened my eyes to not make that mistake again in the future.

I was bamboozled. It is so easy to point fingers at someone else. At the end of the day, I invested and was not thorough. After going through some processes, you realize you are fighting an uphill battle with things like litigation. You realize you need to take your losses, grab whatever else is in your bag, and move on.

After that, things were different. You used to be able to tell me that the sky was purple, and I would believe you — now, I will always go and research for myself. I need to have enough knowledge to make an informed decision. I am comfortable living with whatever decision I make, no matter the outcome.

Finger Licking Dutch is basically my main focus, but I also am still involved with real estate. Finger Licking Dutch Stroopwafels are waffle cone-like cookies with a thin layer of caramel syrup in between.

I always say, “if we're going to roll the dice, you have to invest to invest.” We are rolling the dice on the Stroopwafels, but I'm also not hemorrhaging everything that I have. I invest in myself and in other businesses like real estate. This is so important because you can create an avenue to make money while, in theory, losing it.

To be frank, anytime you’re starting a business you don’t come out of the gate making money like crazy. You’re always going to have to start from the bottom and work your way up, but that doesn't mean that you have to make yourself broke — just find a tool that works for you.

I met my girlfriend a few years ago in Aruba, and on one of our first dates she gave me a Dutch package — she's from Holland. The package had Stroopwafels inside, and I fell in love with them. Over the course of time, she and I would talk about business ventures. I am an entrepreneur and she is a teacher with an entrepreneurial mind. One day, she told me she wanted to start a Stroopwafel truck in Aruba and I was like, “That’s cool and everything, but the U.S. doesn’t even have these things!”

We did a lot of research and she had a lot of connections in Holland, so we were able to produce real, authentic Dutch cookies. We then set a plan and went with it — we thought it'd be something people would really like and enjoy.

The first thing was learning how to be a professional. We have to be professional in the league, or you won’t be there very long. The second is the mental intangibles. I know sometimes as athletes we forget that. It’s almost like we need that reminder of our mental toughness.

Everyone has been an entrepreneur if they’ve stepped on a football field. They just have to think about all those different steps and measures they took as an athlete and transfer them to whatever they want to pursue from a business standpoint. Once you do that, the mentality becomes easier to understand.