Mike Ferry’s Podcast the Original: 0 to 163 in Four Years — Tony Smith Interviews Derek and DJ Dalition

In Episode 22, Tony Smith sits down with brothers Derek and DJ Dalition, two former Army captains turned real estate agents in El Paso, Texas. In just four years, the pair built their business from zero to a pace of 163 transactions a year. Along the way, they never brought on a buyer’s agent.

El Paso sits on the border of Mexico and New Mexico, and it moves fast. Nearly 13,000 homes changed hands there in the last year alone, driven largely by a transient military and federal workforce. Derek and DJ focus only on El Paso, though, and they refer out anything beyond it. That focus, paired with a slightly higher price point than the city average, keeps their business efficient without chasing luxury listings or big commissions.

The brothers credit much of their fast growth to working side by side. Because they see each other in the office every day, neither one has much room to coast. On top of that, their coach Joe rebuilds their business plan each year, posts it on a whiteboard, and hands them a new short-term goal the moment they hit the last one. That structure, plus the exposure they got to other high-producing agents inside Mike Ferry early on, showed them what was actually possible before they ever second-guessed leaving stable military careers.

Derek and DJ also open up about a mistake they nearly kept making: ignoring their own database. A mentor named Dan pointed out that most of their business already came from people who knew, liked, and trusted them, yet they rarely reached out. After reconnecting with a past client and selling a home that had expired on the market for six months, the lesson stuck. Now they run lean, with one assistant and no buyer’s agent, and they’re aiming to double their volume to 200 transactions within two years.