not that it matters much but if your unlicensed your broker friend is not allowed to pay you a referral fee.. that's a violation.

Or should I just wait until I find the right people to learn from and do everything unlicensed with just straight up investors?

Unrepaired damage or damage that was done by a unlicensed individual could possibly be excluded in future claims, depending on what compnay you insure with.

Unlicensed residential mortgage loan origination activity may subject you to sanctions, administrative penalties, and even criminal charges Let me know if you have other questions

If it's you and an unlicensed rookies, it can descend into an unholy mess very quickly.  

@Jonathan BelizaireI don't want to sit here and make you feel hopeless but the guru stuff promoting unlicensed brokering is just that.

I am a newbie to wholesaling, unlicensed and in the fact finding stage.

To second @Mark Hower, I have a business contact who runs a short term rental management company in Nashville and he told me that Airbnb sent out over 2,000 notifications to unlicensed airbnb owners and all were banned from airbnb for 3 years. 

If your state is like NC, you can take the course w/o taking the 'final' and you can remain unlicensed... you can make the call as you take the class.

"Unlicensed broker" is a better descriptive term for these operators.