What Happens When You Migrate to Market Muscles? A Step-by-Step Breakdown
TL;DR: Migrating your studio’s CRM doesn’t have to be stressful. Market Muscles handles the heavy lifting — moving your memberships, contacts, billing, curriculum, and ranks — while you keep running your business. The process takes about two to three weeks, runs in parallel with your current system, and includes built-in review periods so nothing slips through the cracks.
Thinking About Switching CRMs but Afraid of What It’ll Break?
If you’ve been running your martial arts school, dance studio, or fitness business for any length of time, you’ve probably accumulated years of student data, billing records, attendance history, and curriculum inside your current CRM. The thought of moving all of that to a new system is enough to keep most owners stuck with software they’ve outgrown.
We hear it constantly: “I don’t want to spend hours rebuilding everything.” One school owner who’s been open for over 25 years put it bluntly — he’s built everything in his current system over decades and the last thing he wants is to start from scratch.
The good news? You don’t have to. Market Muscles was designed from the ground up for studio owners switching from other platforms — whether that’s Spark, Kicksite, Zen Planner, or any other CRM. Here’s exactly what that process looks like.
Key points for studio owners to consider:
- Migration is included at no extra cost — there are no fees for moving your data from another platform to Market Muscles.
- You keep your current system running — both platforms operate in parallel during the transition so billing never skips a beat.
- Built-in review periods — you approve every stage before the team moves forward, so nothing gets lost or misconfigured.
- Two to three weeks is the typical timeline — enough time to be thorough, short enough to keep momentum.
- Mass payment requests are automated — once migration is approved, a single click requests updated payment methods from all your members at once.
- Your website transition is separate — if you’re also getting a Market Muscles website, that runs on its own 30-day timeline alongside the CRM migration.
Step 1: Fill Out the CRM Migration Form
Everything starts with a simple form. This isn’t busywork — it’s the roadmap that tells the migrations team exactly what to move and how to set it up. You’ll provide:
- Your business name and current CRM
- Login access to your existing system (so the team can pull your data directly)
- What you want migrated — memberships, contacts, billing history, attendance records, curriculum, ranks, trial programs, and more
- Your preferred timeline
- How you’d like billing and payment processing configured
- Any notes or special requests (custom membership tiers, family groupings, specific workflows you want to preserve)
You check as many or as few boxes as you want. Some owners migrate everything. Others start with memberships and contacts, then layer in the rest. It’s completely up to you.
Step 2: The Migrations Team Moves Your Data
Once your form is submitted, the migrations team gets to work. The first phase focuses on the structural elements of your studio:
- Memberships and plans — every pricing tier, enrollment fee, and billing cycle gets recreated in Market Muscles
- Curriculum and ranks — belt levels, testing requirements, training videos, and curriculum documents
- Trial programs — any introductory offers or trial memberships you run
- Products and retail — if you sell gear, uniforms, or merchandise through your CRM
This is the foundation. The team makes sure every membership is configured correctly — including details like down payments, delayed recurring billing, and family billing where one guardian’s payment method automatically covers all dependents.
Step 3: Review Period — You Approve Before Anything Else Moves
Before a single student record is touched, you get a full review. The migrations team walks through everything they’ve set up and asks: Did we get it right? Is anything missing? Does this match how your studio actually operates?
This isn’t a rubber stamp — it’s a genuine checkpoint. If you have 15 membership tiers with different enrollment fees, family discounts, and billing schedules, this is where you catch anything that needs adjusting. You give the green light, and only then does the team proceed.
Step 4: Contacts and Students Are Migrated
With the structural foundation approved, the team moves your actual people — every student, lead, and contact in your database. This includes:
- Student profiles — names, contact information, membership assignments, belt ranks
- Lead records — prospects who’ve inquired but haven’t enrolled yet
- Family groupings — guardians linked to dependents, shared payment methods
- Contact types — properly categorized so your reporting is accurate from day one (no more inflated member counts because parents are labeled as “members”)
- Notes and history — communication records, follow-up notes, and any tracking data from your previous system
Step 5: Second Review — Dot the I’s, Cross the T’s
Another review period. The team goes through your migrated contacts with you to make sure every student landed in the right place, family groupings are correct, and contact types are properly assigned.
This dual-review approach exists because we’ve learned that rushing through migration creates more problems than it solves. A few extra days of verification up front saves weeks of cleanup later.
Step 6: Mass Payment Request
This is the step most owners worry about — and it’s actually the simplest one. Once everything is reviewed and approved, Market Muscles sends a secure payment request to all of your active members at once.
Each member receives an email and/or text with a secure link to add their payment method. The link expires in seven days, which creates just enough urgency without being aggressive. Members can add their credit card in seconds from their phone.
One important note: due to how payment processors work, credit card tokens from your old system can’t be directly transferred to a new one. This is a Stripe security requirement, not a Market Muscles limitation. That’s why the payment request step exists — it’s the secure, compliant way to get updated billing information.
Pro tip: Time your migration so the mass payment request goes out right before your next billing cycle. That way, there’s a natural reason for members to update their information, and it feels less disruptive.
What Happens During the Transition?
Here’s the part that puts most owners at ease: both systems run in parallel during the entire migration. You don’t flip a switch and hope for the best. Your old CRM keeps processing payments and managing your students while Market Muscles is being set up.
The typical timeline is two to three weeks from form submission to full operation. That includes both review periods and the mass payment request. If you’re also getting a website built, that runs on a separate 30-day timeline — so you can align your cancellation with your old provider accordingly.
What About My Current Contract?
This varies by provider, but most studio CRMs operate on month-to-month billing. If your current platform has a cancellation notice period (usually 30 days), factor that into your timeline. Many owners submit the migration form, keep their old system running for the next billing cycle, and cancel once the Market Muscles transition is fully complete.
The Market Muscles team can help you plan the timing so there’s minimal overlap and zero gap in service.
The Market Muscles Approach to Migration
We’ve migrated studios from nearly every platform in the industry — Spark, Kicksite, Zen Planner, Mindbody, iClassPro, Jackrabbit, and more. Each platform has its own quirks, export formats, and data structures. The migrations team knows them all.
What makes this process different is that you’re not doing it alone. You’re not exporting CSV files and trying to figure out column mapping. You’re not rebuilding memberships from scratch. You hand over access, tell the team what you need, and they handle the technical work while you keep teaching classes.
And if something comes up after migration — a membership that needs tweaking, a family grouping that wasn’t quite right, a report you want configured differently — the support team is there to help.
FAQs About Migrating to Market Muscles
How much does migration cost?
Nothing. Migration is included with your Market Muscles plan at no additional charge. Whether you’re moving 50 students or 500, the process and pricing are the same.
Will my students lose access to anything during the switch?
No. Your current system stays active throughout the entire migration. Students continue logging in, making payments, and accessing content on your old platform until you’re ready to fully transition. There’s no downtime or gap in service.
How long does migration typically take?
Most migrations are completed in two to three weeks. This includes the initial data transfer, two review periods, and the mass payment request. More complex migrations (multiple locations, extensive curriculum libraries) may take slightly longer.
Can I migrate just part of my data?
Absolutely. The migration form lets you choose exactly what to move — memberships, contacts, billing, attendance, curriculum, ranks, or any combination. Some owners start with the essentials and add more later.
What if I have custom membership tiers or pricing exceptions?
Market Muscles supports custom memberships, pro bono rates, family discounts, enrollment fees with delayed recurring billing, and more. You can create as many membership tiers as you need, and the migrations team will help configure them during setup. Learn more about billing and payments.
Do my members have to re-enter their credit card information?
Yes, but the process is automated and simple. Market Muscles sends a secure link via email or text where members can add their payment method in seconds. This is required because payment processors don’t allow card tokens to transfer between platforms — it’s a security measure, not a limitation.
Ready to Make the Switch Without the Stress?
Switching CRMs doesn’t have to mean weeks of downtime, lost data, or rebuilding everything from scratch. Market Muscles handles the migration so you can focus on what you do best — running your studio and teaching your students.
If you’re on the fence, the best next step is a quick demo. We’ll show you the CRM, walk through exactly how migration would work for your specific situation, and answer every question you have. No pressure, no obligations — just the information you need to make the right call.
Ready to take the next step for your studio?
Book a free demo to see how Market Muscles can help you get more leads, streamline your day-to-day, and grow without the overwhelm. No pressure. Just real solutions built for studio owners like you.