# Tom Dunkel: Building Your Life Plan Before You Build Your Business Plan

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/burning-the-ships-6706781/tom-dunkel-building-your-life-plan-before-you-build-your-business-plan
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/burning-the-ships-6706781/tom-dunkel-building-your-life-plan-before-you-build-your-business-plan.md
Podcast: [Burning The Ships](https://stenobird.com/podcast/burning-the-ships-6706781)
Published: 2026-04-12T20:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/608bcapital/2721326
Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/239464/2721326/608bcapital/2026_04_10_16_41_23_e225bc1b-1e95-4af7-ab76-3cc1c45f0d5f.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/burning-the-ships-6706781/episodes/tom-dunkel-building-your-life-plan-before-you-build-your-business-plan
Duration seconds: 3454

## Resource

In this episode of Burning the Ships, I sit down with Tom Dunkel — managing principal of Eagle Capital Investments, co-founder of U.S. Mortgage Resolution, self-storage investor, and a guy who spent ten years in corporate mergers and acquisitions before getting fired in 2006 and never looking back. Tom walks us through a career that started with aerospace deals and Harvard MBAs in DC, ran through a firing that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him, and evolved into a 20-year entrepreneurial journey that has generated close to $70 million in revenue. From wholesaling to distressed mortgage debt to a $55 million self-storage portfolio, Tom and his business partner Joe have built and rebuilt multiple times — and learned hard lessons each time about niching down, building teams, and creating a business that works without you. Key Talking Points of the Episode 00:00 Why niching down is the difference between businesses that succeed and ones that fail 01:41 Tom's background — William and Mary, corporate M&A, and the aerospace industry 03:21 Building financial models and raising capital alongside Harvard and Wharton MBAs 04:27 Getting fired in 2006 and why his ships were probably burned before that anyway 05:07 Having a wife and two young kids at home when the decision was made for him 05:53 Getting his face bashed in through the Great Recession as a brand new entrepreneur 06:20 Building U.S. Mortgage Resolution into a business that generated nearly $70 million 13:22 Walking out of a dream job interview because a voice in his head said don't do it 23:42 Discovering discounted mortgage notes and how his finance background made it click 34:37 Discovering self-storage through Scott Myers and doing the work before buying anything 35:52 Buying their first s…

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