600+ Active students, all tracked, billed, and ranked in Gymdesk
28 years In the same location. He’s seen every software promise come and go.
40 hours Of manual data migration work his previous software forced on him. Gymdesk’s Stripe integration handled it automatically.
The Before
Grandmaster Andrew Fanelli has been teaching martial arts for 28 years. He opened All-Pro Tae Kwon Do Academy in Los Gatos in 1997, broke even in his first nine months, and never left. For a lot of those 28 years, he ran the whole operation without a dedicated management platform.
Attendance was tracked on card stock. Every belt level had its own progress chart card — white belt, yellow belt, orange, on up. The front listed the student’s name and curriculum. The back was for attendance. “150 to 200 students coming in per day,” he says. “I would manually write in the date. With a pin.” Billing ran through a Florida-based processor, tracked in Excel, reconciled in QuickBooks. Failed credit cards meant phone calls. One by one.
He eventually moved to a platform called Spark. Eight months in, he’d logged 17 issues in five months. “They weren’t accountable or responsible for their actions,” he says. “They had their head in the sand.” He terminated his membership.
The After
Getting off Spark wasn’t simple. His billing processor at the time refused to cooperate with the data migration. It took Fanelli three weeks to personally call every member and collect their credit card information by hand. Then another three weeks to upload it himself. Forty hours of work, total. He crossed his fingers.
Stripe successfully migrated the card data directly from Spark’s processor. The $500 fee and a week’s delay were the only friction. Autopay launched on February 1st without a single issue. “Everything’s pretty much in my rearview mirror,” he says.
Six weeks in, Fanelli describes Gymdesk as “a breath of fresh air.” The attendance cards are gone — no more hand-writing dates, no more printing the back side of the progress chart cards, no more ink. Belt promotions, rank tracking, billing, and automated payment reminders are all in one place. For a sole proprietor running 600 students without an office manager, that consolidation is everything.
“You’re very passionate about your craft,” he told the Gymdesk team. “I feel it will be a long-lasting relationship.”
What Changed
No more writing attendance dates by hand
For nearly three decades, Fanelli tracked class attendance on printed card-stock cards — manually writing the date with a pen for every student, every session, across 150 to 200 visits a day. Gymdesk replaced the entire system. The back of the card doesn’t get printed anymore. The attendance is in the software.
One place for billing, rank tracking, and automation
Before Gymdesk, billing lived in one system, attendance in another, and rank tracking nowhere in particular. Now it’s consolidated. Belt promotions are logged in the same platform as the billing and scheduling. Automated email and SMS notifications handle failed payments without Fanelli picking up the phone.
A migration that actually worked
His previous software left him stranded — no cooperation on data migration, no support, 40 hours of manual work to move his own members’ data. Gymdesk’s Stripe integration handled the transfer automatically. For anyone who’s ever been burned switching platforms, the difference is significant.
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It’s like night and day. Every step of the way, Gymdesk has been outstanding.”
With my old software I had 17 issues in five months. They had their head in the sand. Gymdesk has been a breath of fresh air—from the platform to the people.”
About the Gym
- Los Gatos, California (Silicon Valley / Santa Clara County)
- Grandmaster Andrew Fanelli, 43 years in martial arts, 38 years teaching
- April 1997 — 28 years in the same location
- Sole proprietor — no office manager
- 600+ active members
- Spark (8 months, terminated after 17 issues in 5 months)
- Tae Kwon Do (group classes and private instruction), Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Boxing
- Using Gymdesk for: Attendance tracking, belt promotion and rank management, billing automation, member communications
Been burned by bad software? You’re not alone.
Gymdesk is used by hundreds of martial arts schools, gyms, and studios. Clean platform. Real support. And a migration team that actually helps you get in.
