It is with deep regret that we must publicly and emphatically retract our endorsement of "The Success Coaches" aka BuzzWorthy Success, Jerry Deck, and Sondra Ayers.

With the next few weeks, I will be posting my reasons for making this decision, and kindly ask your patience until we are able to share those.

Ourselves and our company no longer have any personal or business relationship with Jerry Deck, Sondra Ayers, or "The Success Coaches" aka "BuzzWorthy Success".

Mark Robert Halper
Halper Fine Art

March 2, 2012

I wrote this three years ago, and didn't post more information because I was concerned about legal action, or other retribution. A few days ago I was told a story (that I do not have permission to repeat here), and as a result I felt it necessary to add to my story out of my concern for the safety of others.

Jerry Deck and Sondra Ayers worked with our studio for over two years as paid consultants, and I spoke with them twice at WPPI. I considered the relationship to be one of great trust. My wife and I took our team members on in December of 2011, and one to which we also invited Jerry and Sondra. Following that cruise, Jerry began to work with us very intensely, and on a visit of his to our studio in January of 2012 a great deal of information came to light that was extremely disturbing to our team.

It was at that point that I terminated our relationship with Jerry and Sondra (now working as The Success Coaches). It is important to know that Jerry and Sondra presented themselves as a married couple to us.

After much consideration, I think that it is sufficient to present only that which I have in writing to avoid the potential of legal entanglements. This, simply put, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Jerry had been "mentoring" a young 27 year old woman on our team who was struggling with issues of being on time and otherwise reaching her potential. Although she is no longer on our team, she remains a friend of our business to this day.

The emails on this site are from Jerry Deck to our team member. There is also an unedited set of texts between them. Simply put, he was using his position and authority to attempt to seduce her (and she believed that he had the influence to have her fired, which was largely correct). Jerry was in his 50's at the time.

Much of this, of course, is difficult to fully understand without the full context, so in the texts I have marked in red sections what I personally found most disturbing, and that may require less additional information to understand. It's mudded, but there's no questioning the creep factor when you read it. What he said about me, my leadership, and my studio, to my team member was also highly innappropriate.

There is also a capture of texts between my team member and her friend, Jimmy, that details her experience of Jerry's actions as they were taking place.

All of this is posted with our former team member's written permission.

To my mind, the content of these texts and emails are beyond inappropriate and represent a huge betrayal of our trust and the responsibility that Jerry and Sondra had to our business as our "success coaches". Jerry's behavior was only possible because we believed that he was married to Sondra, when in reality she is simply his enabler. The damage done by this betrayal to our business, our team, and our emotional well being was very considerable and it is my desire that other studios don't have similar experiences.

January 31, 2014, revised March 2, 2016

There is a Pattern of Ruined Relationships with the Studios Closest to Jerry and Sondra.

To my knowledge, the three studios that followed in our footsteps have also had similar experiences. Every one of them would be happy to tell you their own story (and these are just the three studios closest to “The Success Coaches” that we know of).

After the damage he did to our studio, Jerry became close with Keith Forrest of The Forrest Gallery, held an event at their studio, and made frequent trips there. Keith Forrest has good reasons to dislike Jerry even more than I do today. Call and ask him why, or ask his (then) teenage daughter about Jerry’s behavior.

After Keith, Jerry focused on Matthew J. Wagner Fine Photography. Matthew wrote this page off when he first read it as a fabrication, but in the end Matthew felt so strongly about the damage Jerry caused to his life and his studio that he called virtually every person he personally knew who was working with Jerry to tell them his story, explain why he was no longer working with Jerry and Sondra, and to warn them of the dangers of being associated with Jerry Deck on a business or personal level. He’d be happy to take your call at 800-320-8254.

Tom Milne of Milne Photography held an event for Jerry and Sondra at his studio. Pick up the phone and he will tell you his story as well.

September 9, 2016

I’ve been told that there have been accusations made against myself, my wife, and our studio.

• I didn’t fake these texts and emails (please also see Jerry's handwritten letter below). I’m not always referred to in the best terms by my team member, and this is a very jumbled mess of information that is difficult to understand.

• We paid Jerry and Sondra $350 a month for 45 minutes twice a month (of which far too much time was spent on what Jerry wanted to talk about in his life instead of on my own business). I never paid Jerry more than that as a monthly or regular fee. We got a discount, in part, because they benefited from having a studio at our level of success as a client.

• Yes, of course there were ideas that worked I took from what they taught. Not many, but some, and I liked Jerry and Sondra before I understood waht kind of people they really were. From my commercial background and philosophy, they learned our emphasis on quality and personal vision, and some of our marketing (up until that point they didn't think the photography itself matterred). Their help was minimal in our growth, and in the end their overall effect was very destructive.

This conversation took place between my team member and her friend, Jimmy, during which time Jerry was supposed to be having a modest dinner with our team member to help become a stronger team member...

I am told this letter was handwritten by Jerry Deck to a different teenage girl who was the daughter of one of his clients. This is shared with the father's permission. These letters were written after the incidents we experienced.

This is the full text conversation between Jerry and our team member - it is a lot to read.