Meet Ron Platt

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

Hi Ron, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
My father and I were in the insurance product development industry. We had a reputation for being able to underwrite really unusual risks, such as – hole in one insurance – during a golf tournament, if someone hits a hole-in-one and wins the jackpot, that jackpot was insured. Same with Kino games in Vegas, we insured those as well.

While having lunch one day, my dad said he always wanted to underwrite a product that would guarantee child support and alimony payments if the payee died, became disabled or involuntarily unemployed. I thought that was brilliant. At the same time, we had an association that we were using for another business and I thought it would be great to replicate what AARP has done for people over 55 (provide products, services, support and resources for an annual membership fee) but ours would be catered to people getting a divorce, currently divorced or have a single-family household.

There are over 26 million single-family/divorced individuals in the US with 1.7 million divorcing every year and there’s no one single entity catering to this demographic. That was 30-years ago and it’s still true today.

My father didn’t want to start the association until he placed the insurance product and unfortunately, he met his demise before that happened.

About two years ago I had an investor approach me about our idea and wanted more information. After working with him for two months, they decided to pass because, “if it is such a good idea, why hasn’t someone else thought about it”. I said, “if AARP has 36 million members and $1.7B in revenue, why hasn’t someone competed with them?” They still past.

After updating the business plan and re-engaging myself in this idea that really was a passion of mine, I realized I needed to start the company with or without and investor. So, with the approval of my husband, we mortgaged the house, hired a PR firm, reached out to my old contacts a Gallagher Insurance company and a slew of other companies and created the National Association for Single and Divorced Families (NASDF.org). As I had mentioned previously, we provide an umbrellas of products, services, support and resources for people getting a divorce, currently divorced or have a single-family household for a $19/month membership fee. For that monthly fee, they receive over $3,000++ in free and discounted products and unlimited resources.

About six months ago, I finally found an insurance carrier who underwrote the child support and alimony insurance product, which we now call Support Insured.

Starting in June, we will have a national ad campaign and various podcasts that we will be appearing on to tell the nation about what we do and how we can help you build a stronger foundation during the process of divorce and after as a single-parent.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I grew up watching my dad fail and succeed at business. When times were good, we ate steak, when times were bad we ate chicken and bake potatoes. That’s the life of an entrepreneur. Every father wants his son involved in the family business and like a good son, I graduated from college and entered the insurance industry. My plan was to work for the Hartford Insurance company right out of college and become a junior underwriter, eventually transitioning into a senior underwriter. That didn’t happen. My dad’s Vice President took me to lunch and told me she was leaving to move back to her home state and she wanted me to take her job. She would train me and I would make “lots of money”, which is all you have to tell a 21 year old to motivate him.

As much as I loved my father, he lacked when it came to mentoring me. Eventually, I left his company and purchased an independent insurance agency. I had no experience in running an agency but I knew how to respect people, I was a great salesman and I had a good head for business. I grew from one agency to four agencies in a matter of five years and ended up selling them to another larger chain.

I entered real estate as a very cocky individual, thinking I knew everything about sales and life. I was in my mid 30’s at the time. I partnered with someone who insisted we get a business coach and that’s when I met Brian Buffini with Buffini and Company. His story of coming to the US with $250 in his pocket and having a motorcycle accident that incurred a $250,000 medical bill was fascinating to me. He went from nothing to owning a multi-million dollar coaching company and his own private jet. I should shut up and listen to what he has to offer. He made me realize that I had a lot to learn but I had acquired the tools I needed with my background.

He taught me how to journal my thoughts, write down my goals and give it to someone else to hold me accountable. He showed me how to budget, create business plans and work my business by referrals. If he told me to read a book, I read it. If he listened to a certain speaker on a podcast, I listened to it as well and the results were transformative. I went from being an arrogant 30 something to a very humbled learning based individual.

When I joined Keller Williams and watched Gary Keller tell me to read the Millionaire Real Estate book so that I could learn everything about running a successful real estate team, I read the book, many times. Why, Gary owned a multi-million dollar real estate company and had achieved success levels I only dreamed of. I should follow what he’s sharing with me to do. And I did. And the results he preached were completely achievable.

Today, I run a national association, journal consistently, I write my goals down, I seek mentors who are smarter and more successful than myself to motivate me and keep me focused on my success. I still have someone holding me accountable and I’m still humbled enough to remain learning based. Now I want to teach others what I’ve learned and share the knowledge I have.

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?
We moved from Miami to St. Petersburg 7 years ago and this place has so much to share when people come to visit. If my friend wanted to go to a museum, we have well over 10 different ones here in St. Pete starting with the Dali Museum, then there’s the Holocaust museum, the Chihuly, Museum of Fine Arts and so on.

Or, if they want to go to the beach, we would visit either the St. Pete Beach or Blinds Pass where you will see some of the cleanest, whitest beaches in Florida.

If you’re and outdoors, sport enthusiast, we have the Rowdy’s and the Tampa Bay Rays. We have boating, kayaking, sailing and fishing.

We have art shows almost every weekend along with various farmers markets. There’s concerts in the park or the Mahaffey Theater for Broadway shows.

We have a bike trail that goes from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs. There’s nature all around us, including bald eagles, alligators, you name it, we have it.

And if you’re hungry, you name it, we have a restaurant to your liking, yes, we are a foodie town as well.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m going to start with my dad. If it wasn’t for him being an ‘idea-man’ Support Insured would never have been created. He taught me how to be a serial entrepreneur and a risk taker. Who would always so, “what’s the worse case scenario and what’s the best case scenario? If the worse case is tolerable, do it.”

The second shout-out goes to my husband who is risk adverse but has learned what it’s like to live with an entrepreneur. His faith, love and continued support in what I’ve created with NASDF and my passion to achieving it’s success has helped me persevere with this project.

Third, would be my co-founder, Joy Read. I’m the visionary, the showman and the idea man. She’s my logistics and implementor who keeps me grounded. I see the big picture and she gets me to that place, one step at a time.

Finally, and this is one you probably don’t hear a lot, I want to give a shout out to ‘time’. If I had done this 30 years ago, I would have failed because I needed to have more experience both with business and life in order to make this project flourish.

Website: https://NASDF.org

Instagram: NASDFORG

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-platt-a6b49016/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASDF.org

Youtube: NASDFORG