Overview

Mark Hope (Asymmetric) and Daniella Lewis (Stewards Unlimited) met to revise past invoices and establish a repeatable monthly documentation standard to satisfy a strict grant administrator ("Robert") who requires literal adherence to the original grant budget. The immediate trigger was Robert's rejection of the existing invoice format and his demand for transaction-level substantiation of Amazon popcorn sales figures.

Attendees:
- Daniella Lewis — Stewards Unlimited (daniella@stewardsunlimited.com)
- Mark Hope — Asymmetric (mark.hope@asymmetric.pro)

Key Decisions

1. Invoice Structure Revised

The previous invoice used a catch-all "Marketing Program" line item that did not match the grant budget language. The new structure replaces this with three explicit line items that preserve the original invoice total:

January invoice example (revised):

The revised total is kept as close as possible to the original invoice total. Numbers are rounded to whole dollars to keep invoices clean.

2. Sales Data Corrected — Kidney Beans Removed

The previously reported January popcorn sales figure (~$64k) included non-popcorn products (kidney beans). After filtering the Amazon Seller Central export to popcorn SKUs only (yellow popcorn, white popcorn, Old World Popcorn), the corrected figures are:

The January invoice was revised to use $62,130 as the popcorn sales basis.

3. December Invoice Will Not Be Revised

The grant contract started mid-November, making December a partial month. Prorating December would be complex and introduce risk. Decision: leave the December invoice as-is and begin the new format from January forward.

4. New Monthly Documentation Standard

Going forward, every monthly grant submission will include three components:

1. Revised Invoice — Using the new line-item structure (retainer + popcorn commission + other commission).
2. Raw Sales Export — Amazon Seller Central "summary by day" export, with non-popcorn SKUs (e.g., kidney beans) removed but otherwise unedited. The raw, voluminous format is intentional — it demonstrates authenticity to the grant administrator.
3. Profit & Loss Summary — A polished version of the Amazon P&L report showing total sales and total fees. Daniella uses this to calculate the net reimbursement amount (sales minus fees).

Action Items

• [ ] Mark — Email Daniella the revised January invoice + December and January raw sales exports (summary by day, kidney beans removed). (Immediate)
• [ ] Mark — Revise February and March invoices to match the new line-item format while preserving their original totals.
• [ ] Mark — Generate and send all three required documents (invoice + raw export + P&L summary) for every future month going forward.
• [ ] Daniella — Submit the revised January package to grant administrator Robert.

Process Notes

How to Produce the Raw Sales Export

1. In Amazon Seller Central, navigate to the sales report section and set a custom date range for the target month.
2. Filter to popcorn SKUs only (yellow popcorn, white popcorn, Old World Popcorn). Exclude kidney beans and any other non-popcorn products.
3. Export using "Summary by Day" — individual transaction export is not available; summary by day is the most granular option and is acceptable to the grant administrator.
4. Leave all columns intact (do not strip extraneous columns). The raw, detailed appearance supports authenticity.

How to Produce the P&L Summary

• Export the Amazon P&L / profit summary report filtered to popcorn products for the target month.
• Polish lightly (Mark has a prior formatted version as a template).
• Key figures needed: total sales and total fees — Daniella derives the reimbursement request from these.

Invoice Revision Logic

When revising already-issued invoices (February, March, etc.):
- Look up the original invoice total.
- Calculate 4% of the corrected popcorn sales figure → popcorn commission line.
- Subtract popcorn commission from the remaining balance after the $4,000 retainer → derive the "other sales" commission figure (adjust by $1–$2 as needed to hit the original total).
- Issue as a revised/replacement invoice dated to the first of the relevant month.

Related

• ^[1]