What Our Clients are Saying:

Dear Sam:
The purpose of this letter is to summarize the emergency assistance that you provided to our executive staff and the restaurant staff of our Dairy Queen located in Carrollton, Texas. We are grateful that you were able to provide the emergency counseling services and assistance to the individuals involved.

The Carrollton, Texas Dairy Queen had been recently remodeled into a DQ Grill & Chill facility, which is the new upscale prototype for Dairy Queen properties. This was accomplished over a four month period of time during which the restaurant had been closed. We had made a significant investment in the conversion, new equipment, staff retraining, and “Grand Opening” advertising. With the store open less than sixty days, our worst nightmare occurred. I received an emergency call on Memorial Day from my area supervisor asking me to turn on the 10:00pm news, as he explained the days events to me. To my horror, there was our brand new Dairy Queen all lit up that evening and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Not the kind of publicity we wanted. Apparently, one of our customers had been gunned down in broad daylight earlier in the evening in the parking lot just adjacent to our Dairy Queen. This apparently was the result of a gang dispute in which the customer either attempted to stop the dispute or was himself a part of the dispute. We never have found out the exact nature of the events.

As I understand what happened, a gang of approximately 15 young black men from the apartment complex behind our store were drinking and arguing in the parking lot next door when our customer pulled his car into our parking lot about 7:30pm. One of the gang members threw a bottle toward his car and our customer then got out of his car and confronted the bottle thrower. The gang stopped arguing among themselves and then focused their anger toward our customer and began severely beating him. As he was attempting to get back into his car one of the gang members pulled a gun and shot him approximately ten times in the chest and head. His girl friend and mother had already started into the Dairy Queen when the first shots rang out. As the noise of the confrontation and shots rang out, our shift leader ran out the front door and confronted the gang members and backed them off telling them that he had already called the police and that the police were on their way to the restaurant. At this news the gang immediately dispersed. Our employee apparently knew a number of these gang members as he and his wife also lived in the same apartment complex. He called for his wife (also an employee on duty at the time) to bring him towels so he could attempt to stop our customer’s bleeding and yelled for her to call 911. Other customers were attempting to get out of the store, but were coming into harms way, so he told them to stay in the store and asked his wife to lock the doors and to keep the customers safe until police could arrive. Our customer bled to death in the arms of our shift leader in spite of his attempts to keep him alive until an ambulance could arrive. He and his wife, and several other Dairy Queen employees were later taken to the police station where they were questioned until about 4:00am trying to piece together the events and identifying the perpetrators of this crime.

I called you first thing the next morning and you graciously rearranged your schedule to go to the Dairy Queen and to work with our area supervisor and the staff. You helped our store management staff make critical decisions related to the safety of our staff, provided stress/grief counseling to our employees, and provided a calming maturity to the situation (which none of us had ever experienced and hope to never again experience). You were able to get our shift leader and his wife to open up about their very real fears of retribution from the gang members living in the same apartment complex. As a result of your efforts and counsel, we immediately began the Roundtable Corporation “Witness Protection Plan” and assisted them in transferring out of the area to new Dairy Queen employment and a new place to live. They continue to use assumed names for their safety. It was decided to keep the store closed until we could enhance the security of the location. During this time, you assisted our executive team in planning for continuing counseling of our effected employees. We were able to add additional exterior cameras within several days, hired an armed security firm to assist us in patrolling around the Dairy Queen, and we were then able to reopen the store the following Friday.

Your “life experience” and “life coaching” abilities were a significant benefit to our staff and our business. It is rare these days to experience the level of personnel investment and commitment that you brought to us in helping us get through this crisis. Thanks again for an outstanding job! If you ever need a recommendation for Just Coach Me, don’t hesitate to call.

Sincerely,
ROUNDTABLE CORPORATION & ITS
RCDQ SUBSIDIARIES

Michael J. Beakley
Chief Executive Officer

Dear Sam:

This letter is intended to thank you for the “Life Coaching” services that you have rendered to me, my firm, and my employees, and to let others know how effective your services have been for us. Even though we have been friends, business associates, and have maintained a CPA client relationship for many years, the opportunity to fully utilize your coaching services had not really presented itself until recently. I am grateful that you are very good at what you do, and the life experiences that you bring to the table in working with individuals, couples, and the staffs of the multiple business ventures in which I am involved.

As you will recall, the first opportunity to utilize your coaching services was about two years ago, when the Audit Manager for Beakley & Associates, P.C. (hereinafter referred to as “BAPC”) and her husband, who works for another of our companies as it’s Director of Information Technologies were in the midst of seeking to divorce one another. They had two young children and I could see that his was going to be devastating for everyone involved. Furthermore, even though I cared about both of them, I also selfishly realized I was probably going to lose both employees if their marriage disintegrated. After speaking with my Audit Manager for several hours one Sunday afternoon, I secured her permission to get you involved in counseling with them. I am happy to say that, as a result of your coaching them on how to implement various life/communication skills in their relationship, they remained married and both seem to be much happier with their marriage.

The next opportunity came in the form of coaching the BAPC receptionist and her high school aged son, who were both struggling in their single parent/child relationship. He was very rebellious, defiant of her authority, and was running with a crowd that was only destined to get him arrested. She was at her wits end to know what to do to discipline him, to try and keep him out of trouble, and yet to not alienate him completely. His biological father was of no help in her struggle. Through your involvement in their lives and by implementing the life skills and communication exercises you provided to them, they have gained more respect for one another and now have a great relationship. He is attending Lubbock Christian University and doing very well. I know that she has prayed for him and for herself for years, and with your help has now been able to see the fruit that came from her prayers. The most recent opportunity for your involvement with BAPC was in the form of a two day firm-wide staff retreat dealing with communication skills, and how we interact with one another due to our individual personality differences. This was both an entertaining and worthwhile experience for each of my BAPC staff members. The use of the personality inventories was beneficial both at the individual level and at the corporate level in understanding our different approaches to problem solving and dealing with each other. The group session where the staff was split into different teams for dealing with the results of a “hypothetical,” yet very real possibility of experiencing a night-time devastating tornado that destroyed the office, put my wife and I (both unconscious) in the hospital was a blast. This exercise was very revealing about how different personality types would deal with each situation, and what they determined as important in continuing to serve the BAPC clients and meeting all of our required filing deadlines. The large group session you led in reviewing our various personality types and individuals’ means of dealing with different situations benefitted everyone in the firm in gaining a better understanding of how each of us is “wired.” As a result of this retreat, we all came away with a better understanding of each other, and how better to meet each others needs and the needs of our clients.

Having personally experienced your coaching services, I believe that they have been a valuable investment by me in my firm and my people. I appreciate the personnel emotional investment (beyond your fees) that you have brought to the table in serving both BAPC, my staff, and Mary Jan and I. I look forward to your continuing involvement in BAPC and our other business ventures. I would highly recommend you and Just Coach Me to anyone needing your services!

Sincerely,
BEAKLEY & ASSOCIATES, P.C.
Certified Public Accountants

John W. Beakley, CPA, CVA
Corporate Officer

Letter of Recommendation For Mr. Sam Douglass with Just Coach Me

I have had the honor of working with Sam during the last half of 2010. I market credit/debit card processing services, check guarantee, and gift card programs to merchants. Sam was more than willing to assist me in formulating strategies to increase sales. He suggested several ideas that helped me to think outside-the-box and out of my comfort zone.

More importantly, he served as an accountability partner, which motivated me to keep striving in the difficult environment of sales. He was also a friend with whom I could share some personal struggles concerning home and family. I looked forward to our discussions because it generated enthusiasm and drive to keep moving forward.

Sam Douglass is both a business and a life coach. I strongly recommend Sam for your coaching needs, whether it be for your business or any personal struggles you may be facing. He has a unique ability to listen, suggest new ideas, and encourage others. Give Sam a call. You’ll be glad you did.

Sincerely,

Don M. Esch
Regional Manager

Sam Douglass is a first-rate coach and mentor.

I’m a first-time entrepreneur who went looking for a coach to walk me through my first year in business for myself. Having received twelve months of coaching with Sam, I can confidently recommend his work in holding you accountable to the goals you set for yourself, “interrogating your reality” when the opportunity is there, and being the first person to cheer you before the race, during the race, and at the finish line.

Coaching with Sam was a holistic experience—life and work intertwined. Whether in business or life, we celebrated victories, tackled challenges head on, scratched our collective heads at setbacks, and continually looked for solutions going forward. My business is growing and set up for ongoing success. It’s growing in the context of a healthy spiritual, mental, and emotional perspective.

I highly recommend Sam’s work for your own business and personal development.

--Trey Finley
Leadership Coach
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