So I run a very small gift shop in a town which is mostly financially supported by travelers/tourists. I hand make a lot of my items, and have built the business up from nothing. My friend however stops through when she is in this part of the state. She travels full time in a bus, so she carries all of her goods and such with her. But she only rolls through during major holidays and times when business is at its best. When she stops through she places all of her inventory in front of my place, and attempts to pull my customers in before they even get to my entrance. I don’t want to be greedy, or discouraged her from making and selling souvenirs and whatnot. But I rely on my income from my shop to support me. How should I handle this situation? Should I just let it go and lose 2 weeks of typical income? Or should I ask her to move away from my store front? I’ve spent a significant amount of time landscaping and making it eye catching, and I feel like she is taking advantage of the hard work I’ve done, and attempting to give the impression that it’s her place. I don’t know what to do, honestly.
If you want to continue working with them I’d charge them a flat daily fee up front. I don’t know what your numbers look like but I’d make sure it was worth the loss in revenue when she picks off all your clients. Maybe something like $100/day paid up front. You don’t want to take a cut % because then it’s gonna be constant watching over her hoping she doesn’t fudge the numbers.
Frame it like “I really like working together with you. I’m renting out the space infront of my shop for $100/day this year. We’ve had so many good seasons with our businesses thriving side by side. I’d like to continue our relationship and I hope you can help me out with rent and such this year. You’d really be helping me out a lot.” Or something along those lines.
Or if you just want her gone just tell her something similarly sweet like “it was great working together with you all these years but unfortunately I have to dissolve our business relationship. It’s just not working for me. I hope you understand and we can continue to be friends outside of work”.