I have recently made a new beauty product under my brand with another woman, who is already the owner of her own clean beauty brand.

We joined forces to make a unique product for my brand, using her expertise and production knowhow. We have a legal contract in place and all the packaging is personalized to my logo, and we have made a new e-commerce store for my brand, to launch this new product.

My problem is that she still very much treats this product as if it was another product of her brand, and when I discuss new commercial opportunities, she believes that I should be including the pitch of her brand in my sales pitch, which is not something I am focused on, even if her brand produced this product, which I am also going 50% / 50% on sales with, except she has to pay a royalty to our brand.

I find myself in a strange situation. on the one hand, I want to maintain a healthy relationship with her, but on the other I really want to develop my brand as if it were a total separate brand, and I am happy to partner with her – I just feel the lines are too blurred right now.

Could you please send me some advice.