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Here's the history of DJing.
Used to be awesome. Now, not so much. The end.
PREACH!
Seriously though, if nobody in your area is "doing it right", it gives you a wide-open market once you are ready for it. Just don't go out and try to play shows before you have the skills down, or you will be just like these other guys in your area that you despise.
Like others said already, just practice. Like all the time. Record your mixes and find your flaws. Listen to super-ill DJ's mixtapes and see if you can copy (or even better, improve upon) their routines. DON'T go out and play these sets as your own, I'm talking about doing this strictly as a learning tool. Challenge yourself to work with lots of different genres - especially older ones without quantized/digital percussion. If you get to where you can mix some oldskool live-drummer tracks without fucking up, today's music will be easy.
Finally, take all of that time that you invested, and realize that it's really not really gonna do shit for you as far as getting booked goes. You are going to have to brand yourself and hype yourself in order to get anywhere. If you want to stick to your local area, make a bunch of CDs (or even better, data sticks or DVDs), make some bracelets or stickers, do whatever you can to plaster YOUR name all over town and get people curious. Get your demos out to any bar in the area that you want to play at and try to set up meetings with the managers. Have a plan and an approach figured out BEFORE you go in.
If you want to play anything in a bigger market, (other than Vegas) you are going to need other DJs in order to get you into venues. Make friends with DJs in Portland (or whatever your closest city with "real DJs" is) and help them set up, etc. See if you can get 20 minutes at the beginning of the night sometime. THIS is where all the practice comes in. If you actually impress whoever has taken you under his wing, and you're lucky, he might make a call or two and get you on somewhere.
(The other option is to get lots of coke and give it to promoters and hot chicks, but I assume you want the RIGHT way to do it and not the way it's BEEN going lol).
And... good luck. It's a cutthroat industry these days. Many of the best DJs are playing small venues while wack-ass, no talent undercutters are getting shine in the big clubs. Realize that if you are in it for the right reasons, you may never play the glossy-flyer glory spots, and be OK with that.
:)
