30 years Training and competing in jiu-jitsu before he ever opened a gym.
$3,500 All he had when he opened his first location. Three students walked in on day one.
6 years In business. Two locations. Grown by word of mouth in rural California.
The Before
Ira spent 30 years mastering jiu-jitsu. When he opened his first gym, the mat was familiar ground. The business side was not.
He tracked everything by hand — members, payments, who owed what. For the first three years, a red book was the system. It worked, the way improvised things work: well enough, until it doesn’t.
- Every month, he went through his member list by hand and collected payment from everyone individually
- No system for tracking who’d paid and who hadn’t
- As the gym grew, the manual work grew with it
At some point the red book stops being a system and starts being a liability. “That just got crazy,” he says.
The After
Ira found Gymdesk when it was still called Martial Arts on Rails—introduced to it through people he’d trained with. He got on it, set up billing, and the monthly work that used to fall entirely on him just stopped.
- Recurring billing runs automatically—no manual collection, no chasing
- Members tracked without him maintaining it by hand
- Two locations managed in one place without two separate systems
He doesn’t use every feature and he’ll say so himself. But that was never the point. “I needed that because I’m not good at this stuff,” he says.
What Changed
The billing stopped being his problem
For three years, collecting payment meant going through every member by hand every month. When the gym grew past what that could handle, Gymdesk took it over. Now it runs on its own—Ira doesn’t have to think about it.
Simple enough to stick with for six years
Ira isn’t a software person and didn’t need to become one. What got him onto Gymdesk was simplicity—straightforward enough to use without a background in tech. He got on it, it worked, and six years later he’s still on it for the same reason.
Two gyms, one system
When a second gym came together in a neighboring community, Ira didn’t need to build a separate operation from scratch. Gymdesk already handled it—same system, second location.
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I grew to the point where I needed Gymdesk. I had a little red book and every month I made everybody pay me.. then that just got crazy.”
Jiu-jitsu kind of saved my life.. It reigned it in and gave me something positive.”
About the Gym
- Oroville, California (inside Lord’s Gym) and Gridley, California (inside Spin and Sport) location
- Disciplines: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu—community schools in rural Northern California rating
- 6 years ago, started with $3,500 calendar
- Using Gymdesk for: Member management, billing automation, class scheduling check
Not a tech person? You don’t need to be.
Gymdesk is built to be picked up without training courses or a background in software. If Ira can run two gyms on it, you can too.
