After nearly 20 years as a tennis coach, Dali Mihajlovic launched a new career amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As a tennis coach, Dali traveled often, but COVID restrictions shut down travel in the summer of 2020. So he took the initiative to pursue another of his passions — real estate.

 

By that time, Dali had been investing in real estate for many years. He saw an opportunity to use the knowledge he had gained to help others achieve their goals and dreams while creating freedom in his own life.

 

Three years later, Dali is thriving. He left his post as a tennis coach in 2021 to focus on real estate full-time, and the results have been impressive. In 2021, he was in the top 3 percent of MVP Realty agents in production. In 2022, he was in the top 1 percent of agents at MVP Realty while closing 48 transactions for $22 million.

 

He’s well on his way to a long and fruitful real estate career.

 

Dali was born and raised in Serbia. A standout tennis player, he moved to the U.S. at 17 years old, landing in Florida.

 

“It gave me a chance at a professional dream. Florida is probably the center of the tennis world,” Dali offers.

 

Dali went on to play competitive professional tennis and graduated from Indiana State University with a degree in finance. He then moved to Chicago, where he developed a reputation as a tennis coach.

 

Dali spent the next 18 years in Chicago before returning to Florida. During this time, he began investing in real estate, igniting his passion for the work that would eventually become his career.

 

“When I started in 2020, I was excited for the chance to connect with people, to communicate, to be part of this community,” Dali explains.

 

Much of Dali’s success in real estate can be credited to the lessons he learned while playing and coaching tennis. His competitive nature serves him well in real estate, as does his ability to create genuine, lasting relationships with his clients.

 

“As a coach, I'm selling a product in a different way, but there are many similarities. You have to create a brand. You have to create relationships. From the sales standpoint, working with clientele, managing those relationships, creating a business, and getting referrals. Take care of one client, and they'll refer you to others. It wasn't a one-and-done deal in tennis, and it isn’t in real estate either. I've learned how to keep people happy every time.”

 

Dali also launched a property management group alongside his real estate sales work. The two have played hand in hand, with one business feeding the other. He now manages over 180 properties.

 

Dali and his family moved to Southwest Florida in 2018 for the lifestyle, and they are enjoying every minute of their life in Naples. He and his wife, Maya, have three sons, Stefan (16), Marko (10), and Filip (7). As a family, they enjoy travel and sports, especially soccer.

 

Balancing family life and a real estate career isn’t easy, but Dali is committed to being successful at both. Being a top real estate agent and a present husband and father requires understanding from his family and his clients, as well as carefully and kindly placed boundaries.

 

Dali’s eventual goal is to build his own real estate group, but for now, he’s keenly focused on growing his individual business, bringing in more long-term clients, and expanding his reach.

 

“No matter what, my goal is to continue to grow. I'm really looking forward to the future.”

 

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“Get yourself out there. Let everyone around you know you are an agent. Secondly, do a lot of open houses. Get the experience. Meet people. Don’t be afraid to get out there. And be consistent. Follow up. It takes a lot of follow-up to be successful early on in real estate.”