I wouldn't say it was gruff; I'd say a little tacky. Telling someone (who isn't even the decision maker in this case) that they made a bad decision because you said so isn't going to help you.
Since it's a hobby for you, getting mad won't help you. You start getting too emotional about the business part and you'll lose the fun part that made it your hobby to begin with. You can't get angry if you're viewed as amateurs since you don't use a contract and probably do this from your house...
Aggressive sales is fine, but that means smart-aggressive (sophisticated-passive aggressive with product/service professionalism), not sniping at your competitors and chest thumping to the prospect. There is no greater turn-off. It's like screaming, "Buy me! Buy me!" when being a little quieter will make people listen and look.
If you're so great, why aren't you guys famous, rich and have a huge chain of stores yourself, right? Let your photos and previous customers do the hard core selling.
You aren't going to quit your job to do it full-time (I guess), but might be able to do more when you retire. If you're an exempt employee, you must already know that you're as high as you'll go anyway since you're not worried that moonlighting is the kiss of death in large organizations, expressly prohibited or not.
Anyway, you have a good eye for what you're doing. Why not stick to improving and enjoying that and stay positive and direct in your correspondance and sales. Good luck, but I realize this may be very hard for you to do. You, uh, crow about everything and scream, "Look at me! Look at me!" so taping your beak shut and letting your partner handle the business part (since she's the one who wants to do it full-time) might be worth thinking about.
