09/26/2026
I was recently told I'm not a Father, but in fact, I'm a Daddy.
Who is this grinning gent you ask? That's Les Chermak. He's a retired Navy Vet and Daddy to Tim Chermak.
I was speaking to Les at the Platform Marketing Mastermind recently a few days ago and he asked about me and I mentioned I was married to Gina and father to 6 kids. He stopped me immediately and said, "You're not a father, you're a Daddy. Anyone can father a child. but it takes a real man to be a Daddy."
Those words resonated deeply with me. I have always longed for impact in this world. I want to create meaningful change in peoples lives. I know it starts with my children at home and I believe we've done a really good job raising our thus far. That said I am now 44 years of age and I consistently think about my kids and how I've positioned and prepared for the world and their lives ahead of them. This matters to me.
Les is Daddy to Tim as mentioned earlier. Tim is the CEO of Platform Marketing. This is a company we've partnered with for 3+ years and I assure you that will not change. While everyone was busy heaping praise on Tim for everything he's done and created via his vision and belief I consistently kept looking over at Les throughout the 2 day conference in thought. Yes Tim created something incredible and amazing with the help of so many insanely gifted people it was Les that gave him life. Raised him, taught him life lessons, held him accountable, gave him true meanings of life, believed in him, laughed with him, watched movies with him and taught him to love while unapologetically being himself. That is what a Daddy does and Les did it VERY well based on my observations. His proof is out there for all to see. In a few generations or so Les may well be forgotten by the world as well as Tim in time. However their impact will be massive.
You see this is where things begin to become wild. Basically incalculable. In just the time we've been partnered with Platform they've grown from barely 200 agents (who by the way have exclusive partnerships in each of their markets and we own 2) to now 340 in 3 years. THREE HUNDRED FORTY (thanks Diana)! 3 years ago Tim believed the company was going to cap out around 250. These were his words. Life & demand for what Platform offered among other things showed him he was quite wrong. That's 70% growth! So as not to digress I will get to the point. 340 agents of which just under 300 were in the room with me for a few days are being impacted by Platform just as I am. Each Real Estate agent / broker then go out into their respective markets and affect change on others lives on a daily basis. If these agents assist 25-50 families each year (this is a very low average considering most in there are ELITE agents helping 50-100 families annually and some pushing 200!) then conservatively 8,500 -17,000 households are impacted every single year. Extrapolate that out over a decade without accounting for any agents personal business growth, clients coming back to use their agent again and no new agents added into the Platform family and you're looking at 85,000-170,000 families that have been blessed. That's ultra conservative per decade. That's not considering a multitude of additional factors. This number is MUCH MUCH HIGHER.
What a powerful testimony Les has. What an inspiration to me he was in our limited interactions. It's not about us but those that we can bless and help along this journey of life. We're just passing the baton.
Tim and company have created something incredible in Platform Marketing. But I would argue the real impact in that room was a man who got Tim's momma pregnant and in turn did his part in creating a life that would soon change the world in an amazingly unimaginable way.
This is a long drawn out arguably messy post about Platform Marketing but more importantly it's about what helped sow the seed and soul of what makes Platform GREAT!
Thank you for coming Les. Thank you for your service to our country and all of us that you've impacted. And thank you Tim for being a steward of the life he gave you.
