An Inspired Chat with Ron Platt of St. Petersburg, Florida

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ron Platt. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Ron, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I am definitely walking a path.

When you create something that no one else has done it can be both terrifying and rewarding. But before you start, you need to ask yourself, “What’s the best case scenario and the worse case scenario?” If the worst case scenario is tolerable, move forward.

The second question you have to ask is, “Are you okay making mistakes?” When creating a new idea for a business, you will make many mistakes before you achieve minor successes. The road to success is making sure the path you’re walking is clear, attainable and you can replicate it.

The idea for NASDF started 30 years ago when I was working with my dad in the insurance business. We were known as the ‘niche’ guys. When companies or individuals had a unique risk they wanted to insure but no one else would underwrite it, they came to us.

While having lunch with him one day he said, “I’ve always wanted to create and insurance product that would combine child support insurance and alimony insurance under one policy and it would cover the payments if the payor dies, becomes disabled, involuntarily unemployed or has a business bankruptcy.” I thought the idea was genius because, up until recently, when you file for a divorce, your only option to protect your court mandated payments was to purchase life insurance. But what happens if the payor become disabled or gets downsized from their job?

The idea for an association that would provide an umbrella of products, services, support and resources to people getting a divorce, currently divorced or have a single-family household came from the idea of insuring child support and alimony payments.

Try as my dad did, that was the one product he wasn’t able to underwrite. He persisted for almost 30 years. Shortly after he passed away, an old friend of mine called and asked if I had ever placed the insurance. I told him no and he introduced me to a company looking to underwrite a new-to-market product. They loved what we created and decided to underwrite it. It’s now called Support Insured and with that, we launched the National Association for Single & Divorced Families (NASDF.0rg).

Persitency and focus is responsible for the establishment of NASDF and Support Insured. But the challenge still remains; you are the newest idea on the market so there are no pre-established SEO’s or marketing materials. You have to start from scratch and hustle your way into family law firms, social media, and networking within the divorce industry professionals to get your product launched. That takes a great deal of time, energy and money. But if you’re not walking the path to achieving your goals, and you’re not prepared for the many challenges lying ahead, get off the path.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am Ron Platt, co-founder of the National Association for Single & Divorced Families (NASDF). We are the first association, taylored after AARP, that provides an umbrella of products, services, support and resources for people who are getting a divorce, currently divorced, or have a single-family household for a $19/month membership fee.

Interesting fact; there are over 26 million people in the US that are either divorced or have a single-family household with 1.7M getting divorced every year. Yet, when you google the word “divorce” you get 4 to 5 pages of attorneys before you get to resources and help. When you are in the process of getting a divorce, you don’t have time for anything because the responsibilities you once shared with your soon-to-be-ex are now 100% yours. Having an association that provides free mental health care, discounts on early childhood education, real estate services, career services, discounts on diapers, formulas, school and computer supplies, etc and provides a list of vetted attorney’s, mediators and other divorce professionals makes it easy and convenient.

Now, couple that with creating an insurance product that combines child support insurance and alimony insurance into one policy, and guarantees your support if the payor dies, becomes disabled, involuntarily unemployed or has a business bankruptcy – Support Insured – makes it a winning combination.

The idea for this association and Support Insured started at a lunch my dad and I shared when we were both in the insurance industry 30 years ago. He wanted to guarantee child support and alimony payments and I wanted to replicate AARP’s successful association brand but instead of catering to people 55 and older, I would cater to people getting a divorce. He wanted to wait to start the association after he had placed the insurance product. However, every underwriter he went to said no until recently, when a friend of mine called and found the right insurance carrier who was looking for a first-to-market product.

As Support Insurance receives recognition and becomes the new standard in divorce protection, NASDF’s membership base continues to grow. As the growth continues, the products and discounts we provide to our members continues to get bigger and better. I call it the ‘Costco Effect’. The more members you have, the cheaper things get and the more retailers want to offer discounted products and services.

One of the products I’m working on that I want to offer our members is a credit card that pays for attorney fees, mediations services and court costs with a minimal credit score. What some of our members have incurred is the inability to hire an attorney because their partner controlled the funds. When they went to apply for pro-bono legal help, they often were disqualified because the non-profit providing the free legal services would combine both salaries to determine eligibility. That leaves them with two choices; either borrow money from a friend or file their own legal papers. Having a credit card that pays the initial legal retainer and filing fees would make a huge difference in so many peoples lives.

Through NASDF, we are able to establish our advocacy work, which is two fold; for me, my passion is geared towards foster care and family court reform. As a foster parent myself, I saw the inadequecies of the foster care system and I want to change that. My co-founder, Joy Read’s passion lies in the prevention of intergenerational poverty. A great deal of our profit will go towards funding these two passions.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
Do you remember as a kid, you would often have dreams of being chased by a monster? I was maybe two years old and I often had those dreams until one night, while I was dreaming of being chased by some villian, I turned around and said “no more” and I began to chase the monster. I woke up feeling incredibly powerful that night.

In elementary school, kids would often pick on me and call me names. It was incredibly demeaning and I would intentionally avoid some kids after school, fearing that they would beat me up. Until one day, while I was in gym, one boy started harrassing me and something in my brain said, “I’m done”. I went up to the kid, grabbed his shirt, picked him up off his feet and told him to stop with the comments. The entire class was shocked and I remember the gym coach saying, “now boys, let’s not start something.” Of course the boy threatened to beat me up, except this time, I stood by my bike after school and waited for him. He never showed up. Maybe 10 years later he started working at a pizza restaurant I worked at and when he saw me he apologized. It was very healing.

This feeling of empowerment has kept me moving through my lifes many challenges and as a first generation holocaust survivor, I will always use my voice to make a change where I feel others are being neglected.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
I would tell myself, you’re going to be okay. You will stand up to the bullies and abusers in your life. You are a survivor, a fighter and you will persevere through life’s challenges. You will create a platform that will positively impact millions of lives, create a change in this world an find unconditional love. Your pain will turn into passion and your passion will drive your success. You are a creator, a motivator and a healer. Oh, and your ability to see ghosts when your parents tell you its your imagination, yea, you’re going to find out you’re actually a medium and you use that super power to help people heal. It will sort of be your side gig.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My relationships with people. I don’t do superficial. I’m either all in or all out. What my really good friends tell me is that I listen so intentantly, they don’t need to see a therapist (LOL). It’s true! When people speak to me, I’m focused on their words, not how I’m going to respond before they finish. I often ask them questions using their own words to see if they can figure out the answers themselves and if they can’t, I’ll offer my opinion.

I will check in with you to see how your day is going. Always return your phone call and I will pick up the phone at all hours if you call (just ask my son with his 3am calls). I might ask, “is this an emergency?” and if you answer no, than I’ll tell you to call me back at a decent hour. It will be better for both of us.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What will you regret not doing? 
Three things:
1. Not going to George Washington University, which I was accepted to. I would have gone into politics, probably interned for a congressmen or senator and ran for office.

2. Not pursuing my acting career. I started as a child actor and became passionate about it. Later, after college, I worked with an acting coach and she would invite casting directors to our monologues and shows and afterwards, I would always have one or more directors come to me, hand me their card and tell me to call them. I guess I had bigger aspirations in the business world and I feared being a starving actor.

3. When I graduated college, I was hired by a large insurance company as a junior underwriter. My plans were to move to Hartfield, Connecticut and work my way up through the company, learning every aspect of the industry. Instead, my dads Vice President took me to lunch, a few months before I was supposed to move and told me she wanted me to take her position since she was moving back to Atlanta. I turned her down until she told my 22 year old self I would make ‘lots of money’. That’s the last thing you tell a 22 year old. I never moved to Hartfield.

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