I have known and worked with Dave Stephens for 20 years. Dave has shown tremendous talent and ability to provide guidance to help further my business. Dave has helped grow my business by 4X, taking my revenue to over $2,000,000. 

Dave is an extremely honest person and will let you know, up front if a product or service is not what is needed. He has had shown me time and time again how valuable he is. He is very well connected and knows just about everyone who can help grow your business.

He can help increase sales and use his sales experience to train sales staff and sales managers.

I highly recommend Dave to all my clients and friends who own businesses. He is steadfast in his desire to help others achieve the goals that they wish to achieve.

We are a Small Business General Contractor specializing in construction / renovation projects primarily with the Federal Government. Tuskegee Contracting was established in 2010 and by 2018, we had grown to a point where I wanted to give our employees something to help plan for retirement. So, I decided to establish a 401 k Program.

David Stephens with Legacy Business Advisors was recommended and he has been the financial advisory for Tuskegee Contracting’s 401 k Plan since 2018. The program was available to over 20 employees and David provided personal finance advice to those who participated. David also assisted me with business financial planning and helped me establish an Exit Strategy for the future.

He is very knowledgeable & experienced and I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to improve their business or personal financial position.

Buck and Dave were referred to us at a time we were looking for business and retirement advice.

They did an extensive evaluation of our business and located multiple problems that were affecting our business worth. They made recommendations based on their expertise and experience of what we needed to do to improve the company both financially and to run more efficiently.

They are exceptional people, hardworking and very knowledgeable about businesses and how they should be managed for success. They are both of good moral character – honest, loyal, trustworthy, and thoughtful.

In closing, Dave and Buck are men of integrity. They will work hard for what is best for their clients. They don’t drag their feet on any task that they are given, whether it’s doing what they have been hired to do or following up with outside service providers. One of the greatest benefits was that they held us accountable to doing what we said we were going to do.

Five years ago, we were developing an exit strategy to retire or move on to other things. Dave Stephens name came up as a person that could help both with an exit strategy and financial planning. He would help put together a 5-year buy-out plan.

Two of our long-term employees had expressed interest and Dave put together a program for the employees to raise capital. Dave followed up weekly both with the employees and us. After several years it became evident that while the initial strategy was sound the people were the wrong fit to assume ownership. Instead, Dave helped me buy out my partner in September of 2022.

He is now with us working on management development, recruiting, and process and procedures. We are more efficient today as a result. The next plan is building value and preparing for my exit in the next 2 to 3 years.

Dave has been helpful, engaged, and willing to jump in whenever needed. I would recommend Dave if you were looking for someone to help you with structure, growth and preparing for sale.

I’d like to present this letter of recommendation along with my personal and professional experiences with David for the past 15 years. We’ve collaborated on several major accomplishments throughout the years including the daunting tasks of securing income for myself post-retirement, exploring different tax-incentive plans through captive insurance, and most notably, a deferred compensation plan for our key executives that ensures the future growth of our companies.

David has been a sounding-board for major decisions which included new legal counsel, tax accountants, and a directional-shift in our business markets from a small to large business. He’s honest, punctual, and will work in a manner that makes it hard to distinguish him from your key executives. 

If he doesn’t have the answer, he will get it with his access to a large network of professionals in the Hampton Roads area.