How to Actually Start a Business With Mates

Written by Acme Mag

As we discussed previously, Wilton Lemke Stewart is new to the Newcastle scene, but have quickly made their presence known in the area. Founded by Jesse Wilton, Tom Lemke, and Nick Stewart, the business is built off of finding new and better ways to do business.

Working with loved ones is common in the real estate industry. Friends, family, and loved ones joining the business is commonplace. But it does raise the question – how do you actually start a business with mates without losing the relationship in process. For WLS, their journey has all been about balance and taking their time. 

“I started off with a little flirty joke, like, we should all learn the ropes together one day. And then the seed was planted,” says Jesse. 

But over time that flirty joke developed into something real. The boys say catch-ups and group barbeques ultimately turned into planning sessions about how to exactly get this vision off the ground. As Jesse says, at a certain point they knew there was no avoiding starting the business. That included not letting the market scare them out of their dreams.

“Timing was never going to be perfect. There are a million reasons to not do something. I think the three of us knew we wanted to do it, and once we’d made the decision, the market didn’t really factor into it,” says Nick.

So with the three of them on board, the next phase was deciding on what model to use. As any agency director will tell you, there are a 1000 different ways to start an agency. Work under a corporate franchise, go out completely on your own, or utilise an existing back-end platform like Urban X. While each choice had their pros and cons, the boys decided to seek advice. 

“We were actually close to going with another franchise. But for whatever reason, we decided against them,” says Jesse.

“So we sat down with a business consultant and basically dissected all the options in the marketplace. This guy was a bit of a tech-lord, he worked out of his studio in his backyard. He pretty much said ‘I’m running this real low cost exercise from our backyard. You guys could probably do the same’. We agreed it was a pretty good option.”

By partnering with Urban X, the boys were able to outsource aspects of the business that kept them from doing what they love: meeting people. Their focus was now on building relationships, achieving results, and keeping overheads lower. 

As the business moved ahead, they soon realised the importance of maintaining the dynamic that brought them together in the first place. As mates, they didn’t want to compromise their relationship in order to make the business more successful. This meant finding a way to do both. 

“When things got serious, it came to our attention that we’re actually mates, so we don’t want to mess up this process. That was the big thing. We didn’t want to stuff that up,” says Jesse.

They decided the best way to do this was to lean into the fact of their friends. Their business is built on relationships, and friendship is at the core of that. 

“I think our biggest strength and what gave me confidence was just going to be the sheer volume from the three of us and seeing that presence in the market, I think is going to be our biggest strength,” says Tom.

At the end of the day, the WLS team say their friendship is now the basis for being productive as well as a driving force for moving the business forward. 

“Now it’s regular barbecues and beers to keep everything on track,” says Jesse.