RWL230 How to Build a Remote Fitness Business w/ Marlon Schadeck, Founder, NomadStrong

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
0:00

Today's guest is Marlon Shalick of fully remote business Nomad Strong, which gets remote workers fit and healthy. They create personalized fitness programs tailored to your interests, needs and goals, especially if you're overweight, have back issues or low energy. Originally from Germany, marlon relocated to Mexico in 2023, and he now provides online and in-person fitness coaching to individuals and groups. With over six years of experience, marlon has helped remote workers across the globe achieve their fitness goals, leveraging his background in sports science and fitness certifications. Welcome, marlon.

Marlon Schadeck:
0:43

Hi, yes, yes, I'm Marlon. I'm an online fitness coach and I'm 29 years old. Originally from Germany, I moved to Mexico a few years ago and I'm living and working from over there Right now, over here in Germany, visiting friends and family. And, yeah, I generally love sports. That's how I became an online coach. I love moving, I love being active, I love adventures, I love traveling, but also I think I'm a very social person. I really enjoy being with friends. I enjoy also being with the people I work with and having a great time together.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
1:27

Next, can you describe a personal story or experience that has influenced who you are today?

Marlon Schadeck:
1:34

Yes, there is something that comes to my mind right away. When I was doing my internship in 2019, I was still studying to become a teacher Sports and English were my subjects and I was in the German school in Guadalajara. I could do my internship abroad. The school was very nice and very interesting, but I really figured out that teaching is not what I want to do, even though it was. One of my subjects were sports.

Marlon Schadeck:
2:05

So I then, more or less as a side quest, started offering events and also just daily or hourly workouts with a group of people that gathered together to just have a great time, to have a good workout, or even a good day hike in the mountain or something. So, me and a friend, we organized these workouts or these trips and we really had fun with that, and I really realized that teaching might not be it, especially getting to the same place every day at school was not really what I enjoyed, and that I enjoyed way more um, the fitness coaching, um stuff that I was doing, um at the same time. And, yeah, that was a very decisive moment for me. So from then I figured out, okay, I might finish my studies, um, just to have that safe, but then I wanna, I wanna really want to really dive deep into personal coaching, or even develop even further my ideas in that area.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
3:12

As you look back on your life and connect the dots that led you where you are now. What are those dots?

Marlon Schadeck:
3:20

Yes, good one. Well, after I finished my school, I traveled a lot. I went to different countries, different continents, because I really enjoyed that. I was working at helping out people with grape picking and all that, but I really enjoyed the traveling aspect of it. And then when I got back to germany or always when I got back to germany I worked in gyms. I worked in very casual gyms around Frankfurt, my hometown, and, yeah, I was then accepted for an internship in Guadalajara the thing I was talking about before and that was the turning point, as I already mentioned.

Marlon Schadeck:
4:23

And here I then didn't really do too much for the school or for my profession as a teacher, but even more for my profession as a fitness coach, as a personal coach, and I figured out that I can connect this freedom aspect that I was experiencing when I traveled before with that fitness aspect, which was always my passion and which was also obviously the main reason why I started working in gyms before.

Marlon Schadeck:
4:48

And when I realized I could connect the two of them, I could offer workouts for Mexicans, but also tourists and the places that I was living in Mexico, but also could get into remote business and build a established online business. That was for me, the, I think, the most important or the biggest dot, and, yeah, that's more or less where I am right now. On the way, I then met my colleague, joe joe miller, who's doing nomad strong with me, um, which is an online gym for remote workers, and um, yeah, we both have the same vision, we both have more or less the same um training approach. Um, we are friends right now, we are colleagues and and we are working together on nomad strong and that is, uh, yeah, where I'm. That is the last dot, that is where I am right now why did you decide to become a leader in your chosen niche?

Marlon Schadeck:
5:52

well, I think, um, that is because fitness, for me, got a weird touch over the last years or decades. So, from when I started working out myself and really being passionate about the whole topic of fitness and sports in general, um, which is more than 15 years ago, um, I witnessed and how, or I witnessed how, the fitness hype um at the industry grew, which is very good, but also I didn't really, I never really liked the aspect of fancy gyms and I don't know fancy diets, fancy trainings or nutrition methods, and for me, the whole idea was always much more simple. I think fitness is about an active and a fun lifestyle, eating in a way that feels right for you and your body, and not restricting yourself with crazy diets or whatever, and just figuring out a lifestyle that you enjoy, on the one hand, but that will also guarantee you lifelong fitness, on the other. And that approach is very basic, very simple and also different to other approaches I see in the whole fitness world. And that is, first of all, why I chose fitness, or why I chose to become a fitness coach.

Marlon Schadeck:
7:17

And then, second, why I do that remotely or why I do that for a remote worker, is because I am a remote worker myself. I know the problems of remote workers. I know also the advantages that remote work brings regarding how you could organize your life, or how you could organize your life as a fit remote worker. So that is why it was just the closest and the and the most made the most sense for me to work with other remote workers and help them and show them how to can, how to get fit in a natural way, um doing trainings outside and and and going outside, enjoying, enjoying moving the body or enjoying enjoying the movement, enjoying your body and enjoying food in a way that you enjoy it, but that is also effective what was the best advice anyone ever gave you, and did you follow it?

Marlon Schadeck:
8:17

I think, looking back, I could say that my dad gave me quite a few good advices, but maybe more relevant for this podcast. I was participating in a mentorship with Janus Neumann and he always told me you don't have to train people in the gym, or not even in the parks or whatever. You can work fully remote as an online fitness coach and your clients will benefit even more from that, and I think that was a very good advice and until now, I can say that actually proved as valid. So that is what I'm doing right now working fully remote and enjoying that, because it gives you a lot of freedom and also for my clients. I can see that they can organize their workouts even better because they work out on their own. So when I work together with them afterwards, they know how to work out on their own. So when I work together with them afterwards, they know how to work out on their own.

Marlon Schadeck:
9:27

That was sometimes a problem when I was training with people or when I was working out with people together. As you would imagine it as a personal fitness coach. In the gym, for example, you have your personal fitness coach there who tells you okay, do one more rep, do one more rep or do this or that, and you get dependent on that. If you don't have that person with you while you're training, then you have to organize your workout yourself, have to revise with your coach later in the zoom call weekly zoom calls, for example and like that, learn how to work out and also how to be consistent with nutrition or whatever habit on your own, being guided by your personal coach online.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
10:12

And what made you choose remote work and how has it benefited you?

Marlon Schadeck:
10:16

So, yeah, as I just mentioned, that advice was always something that kind of gave me some direction. That advice was always something that kind of gave me some direction. But then why I chose to go fully remote was because I loved to be free, I love to travel, I love to be location independent and, yeah, I saw that remote work is the thing that will get me there and that will guarantee me this lifestyle. So that was definitely one big point. And then the other one is you really get to work with people from all over the world, which is very interesting, I think. Sometimes I have calls with clients in Canada, then I have a next call somewhere in Southeast Asia, then another one in South America, you name it. So it is very good to get in touch with people from all over the world and be connected with the whole world in some, in some way what are your best tips for organizing your day and staying productive?

Marlon Schadeck:
11:26

it's going out in the real world, before you open your laptop or before you start working. That means getting some fresh air, moving your body and, in the best case, getting some sunlight, before you then get back to your place or from wherever you work and start your workday. Getting some real-life experience, the things somebody experiences when he goes to the office or whatever, and then also throughout the work or throughout the workday, I think mobility or even strength exercises get the blood flowing, activate the body, focus, and it helps a lot to to feel better when you get back to to your laptop or from wherever you're working and have a refreshed mind. And I always think that it is important to keep the balance, or to make sure that you keep the balance, between mental and physical load, because that that mental load we usually have it when when we work all day on our tasks, but then that physical load is lacking, so we're not exhausting our body at all. And I think there it is very important to get that physical load in. You can do that with workouts, but also with these short movement snack, short movement breaks and, yeah, with morning walks, and there's quite a few very, very nice, very enjoyable tools to to get that physical load in as a remote worker, and I think that is very important.

Marlon Schadeck:
13:23

My father, for example, is a carpenter.

Marlon Schadeck:
13:25

He's he's walking around and carrying stuff and and lifting things all day and when.

Marlon Schadeck:
13:32

When I sometimes help on the construction, I really feel how that helps my well-being and how good I feel in the end of such a day, even though it's very exhausting for the body. So, yeah, I might not work that physically as a remote worker never. But yeah, it is good to kind of, uh, yeah, get it, make it as as physical as possible or or get it at least enough movement in, let's put it like that. And then what also helps me a lot is to get to structure my day, to not to not work all day, just a little bit, but have proper times. For example, I start my work day at 10 in the morning, um, do my workout before, um and then work focused um. I have my, my tasks and my and my appointments in my calendar and then usually I finish my work day at four or five or six. And having this structured kind of work day also helps them to enjoy the spare time you have afterwards, the time with friends or the time to do activities or whatever even more.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
14:44

And yeah, that kind of structure also helps a lot so now I want to find out more about the company that you're part of. So can you please begin by telling me more about the company that you're part of? So can you please begin by telling me more about the company that you're?

Marlon Schadeck:
14:59

part of and its origin story. So, as I mentioned already, the company that I'm part of, or that I founded, that I co-founded together with my colleague, is called Nomenstrong, and Joe and I my colleague and I we were both personal fitness coaches, fully remote. Even before we met, we had the same target group, so we were both specializing on helping remote workers and digital nomads. So when we first met via LinkedIn or via Zoom or Google Meet call, I think, we became friends and we saw that we both have the same training approach, or a similar one at least, and, yeah, that we're actually both ready to team up and make something bigger out of it. And then we called the whole thing nomad strong, and that is what we're working on at the moment.

Marlon Schadeck:
15:59

And, um, yeah, we actually have never met in real life. By the way, this week we will meet here in my hometown, frankfurt, because we're both in in in germany at the moment. So it's going to be the first real life meeting, quite, quite interesting, quite exciting. And uh, yeah, I mean, before I was, I was in mexico, he was in spain, so that was not not an option.

Marlon Schadeck:
16:23

Now, both here, united in in germany, let's see and what's unique about the company they're working from or where they're living, they have someone who's taking care of their health, who's giving them individualized training plans, individualized nutrition advice. We work a lot with habits, so we're building habits that are sustainable habits and that fit perfectly to the situation of that client or of that person who wants to get fit. And we also want to bring more of the real world into the remote work lifestyle. So we're focusing on outdoor workouts, we're doing habits like daily walks, we're implementing nutritional habits that are nothing like diets or nothing like restriction, but much more oriented to be a sustainable approach that works for that specific person forever. So we want to be sustainable, we want to get people to get out in the real world, let's say, and do their workout outside or implement whatever sports or whatever physical activity that they enjoy. That can be cycling, that can be hiking, that can be running, that can be swimming, that can be playing ball sports so implementing as much different activities as possible into that remote worker schedule. So you have a schedule that you enjoy but that will also get you to become fit or to also stay fit forever, which is a very beneficial thing.

Marlon Schadeck:
18:29

So when I sometimes get back to my uh or my former clients that I was training one or two years ago. Then they tell me okay, you would be proud of me. Actually, just like a few days ago, I I received a message from a client who said like you would be proud of me, I'm doing my workouts and I'm staying fit, I'm even, I'm even even progressing. Even after our cooperation together, after our coaching and that is for me, the best thing to hear Somebody really made a sustainable change. And that is the whole idea making a sustainable change by providing individualized input and by really focusing on a one-on-one cooperation.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
19:12

What's your philosophy on building a great team?

Marlon Schadeck:
19:16

Level of responsibility. So you have to be on time for your meetings, you have to do the tasks that are yours and you have to then build work seriously on your business, even though you're friends and even though you're getting along with each other, which might not be so easy sometimes. And then I think a third very important point is a good vision, a good idea that you want to, yeah, that all the team members are convinced of, and that you're working on every day right. And I think, if all these three are given, that is a very, very good starting point.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
20:06

Can you talk me through the steps of your hiring process? How would you describe the company's success so far?

Marlon Schadeck:
20:14

Then, on the other hand, we work a lot, both my colleague Joe and I, to make the whole thing happen and to make it work, and, yeah, I wish that one day it is less work and, yeah, still the same output, or even more output, if you would understand output as clients who sign up. So, yeah, we're working towards there and I think it is normal for a growing business or for a business that actually just started a year ago that, yeah, the numbers are not going crazy, but that we have to be consistent and we have to keep going, and then we're on a pretty good track, I think.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
21:01

And what's next on the horizon?

Marlon Schadeck:
21:05

Oh yeah, a lot of exciting things I'm really looking forward to Now that we're fully remote. We also want to do some in-person, offline work. We are now planning to do events with more or less a charity character, actually events in the form of workouts, of outdoor workouts For me. I'm living in Mexico offering outdoor workouts, sunset or sunrise workouts at the beach for a group of people who just gather together and no one pays, or everyone pays as much as they want, and it is a fit for everyone concept or something like that. We don't really have a name for it yet, but that, uh, that is a very, very exciting, uh, um, very exciting project, because, also, I see a lot that people in mexico, where I'm living, a lot of people don't have the money to pay a personal coach, um, so it would be, uh, yeah, um, really, really, really, really a great vision for me, a dream actually, to make fitness, to make my passion, my hobby, accessible for everyone, and that could be a great starting point.

Marlon Schadeck:
22:28

These charity events, these charity events, um. Then also, we want to um offer retreats, seminars, workshops in the real world. So in offline, offline seminars, offline retreats, offline workshops, um, where we get to get to know our clients, maybe that we wouldn't, that we've been training online for years, but that we also get to meet locals, whoever is there, whoever wants to join these projects. So these offline projects are a thing I'm really, really looking forward to.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
23:08

Is there a particular team or company whose culture you admire?

Marlon Schadeck:
23:13

Instagram account actually inspired me was Primal Patterns, so a group of guys who do more or less the same that I'm doing or that we're doing. So they have a movement-based approach. They go out, they do sports and and adventures and in nature and and have this kind of back to the roots vibe, focusing on the basics with training, and, yeah, the whole thing looks fun, the whole thing looks inspiring. I would not say that is they are my role model or something, but definitely an aspiring, inspiring team and, um, yeah, this is also more or less the direction that we're, that we're going, I think and, as we begin to wrap up, what excites you about what's ahead.

Marlon Schadeck:
24:12

Meeting the clients that I've worked with so far, but also meeting other people in real life and getting these projects, these retreats, these seminars, these workshops to become a part of our business. And what also excites me a lot is is the other, the other aspect that I was talking about, the charity events, um helping, helping all those who want to enjoy an active and healthy lifestyle, um, even those who who can't afford it and what do you like to do when you're not working?

Marlon Schadeck:
24:54

Working out, working out, moving, doing sports, being physically active, going for adventures, especially around Puerto Vallarta and the city that I'm living in Mexico, we have really, really nice nature. We have rainforests, we have we have rainforests, we have beaches, everything and, uh and yeah, going there and and doing fun, fun stuff. That is, uh, what I really, really enjoy. Besides, besides working, um, I also like going out with friends, um, doing this adventure together with friends, or just going out with friends and having a great evening, um and yeah, enjoying, enjoying my time. That I'm not working, I mean, I enjoy my work, but also, um, the rest of the time I I want to have a good, a exciting, um and a and a rewarding life.

Marlon Schadeck:
25:53

And, yeah, I'm now getting back to. Well, I just got back to Germany a while ago. That is always very exciting to see my friends and family over here and I have my life over here. But then also I'm looking forward to get back to Mexico to train people at the beach and enjoy Mexico, enjoy being with my friends over there, and that is always for me, a very, yeah, a very, very big one having these, these two lives, if you would put it like that, my life over here in Germany and the one in Mexico, so I'm always looking forward to something.

Alex Wilson-Campbell:
26:34

That's it for today's episode of the Remote Work Life podcast, but if you're a location-independent freelancer, solopreneur, founder or leader and want to provide a case study for the Remote Work Life podcast, get in touch with me via LinkedIn using the link below in the show notes.