The following post may seem long, but I really appreciate feedback and advice about what I am sure is a common dilemma in this community.

My best friend and I have done some hoop performances together, and have always split the $$$ 50-50. However, she recently told me that she wants to change our arrangement. She wants what she called a "standard finder's fee", whereby the hooper who actually gets the gig (thru promoting and networking) takes 60% of the money, and the other one of us would get 40%...the thing that really bothers me, however, is that she also wants the hooper who got the gig (and gets 60%) to have what she called "exclusive promotion rights" that night, meaning: that if she gets the gig, she gets 60% of the $$$ AND the "right" to handout her card, whereas I would not be able to hand out my card that night. (and vice versa)

Now, this girl is my best friend and I love her, so we both agreed to sit down and lay out our sides of it. Here are my problems with what she is saying:

-the money should be split equally if we are doing equal work

-as for the cards, we should both hand out our cards, anytime anywhere. this is especially true b/c I am the only one out of the two of us who makes and sells hoops (she never has, and I made her hoops for her). When i asked her how she would handle someone approaching her for a hoop order, she suggested that she would pass the order on to me, and then TAKE A CUT of the hoop money. i am NOT cool with this as it is my materials and labor at work. also, i ordered professional cards long ago, whereas she only made hers last week on the computer, and i also am the only one of us who maintains a hooping website for my business.

-though she is a great hooper with her own style and all, I have put much more into my hooping so far in the sense that I have: travelled to NC TWICE for hooping retreats and to learn from the best, i have been making all types of hoops for months (including LED ones for her and I!), I have gone into NYC for classes, etc etc....I am also planning to do a teacher training asap. She, though great, has only hooped and studied with me, and performed a couple of times with me.

The true irony in this is that, we haven't even made enough money to be squabbling over it! We have made less than $100 collectively from gigs! I make more money from hoop making, which is my work alone. I think, b/c she has not studied with the "greats" as I have, she does not really realize yet how far we have yet to go, and what novices we really are (I hooped for 6 months, she for 4 or 5).

Ultimately, I am thinking that for the sake of the friendship we should go our own separate ways when it come to hooping and anything revolving around $$$$$. Though I don't WANT to be competitors, I cannot agree to the arrangements she has suggested. She seems to want very much to profit from hooping, and i have slightly different goals. Sure, money is great, but i don't want any negative energy creating blocks on my hoop path. i think it may be time for our hoop paths, but not our friendship paths, to diverge.

Any feedback is WAY appreciated!