From $400 a Week to Living In Paradise - My Story 

Aaron, you have no idea how much respect I have for you! I listened to every word that you said attentively. You have solved what is the biggest question, "What is the key to happiness". It is not money (funny coming from an investment banker) it is finding what you want to do and finding the ability to have free time to pursue your passions. Your fiancé is a very special lady and I know that you appreciate her. You & her make a wonderful couple and you will always be in my prayers. I will pray that you find what you are seeking and that you & your fiancé will enrich each other's lives for as long as you live. You are a gentleman, a wonderful human being and I will make it a point in my life to meet you face to face. God bless and keep living your dream, my friend. Oh, I forgot, I will share your RU-vid channel link with all my Facebook friends.

Very few RU-vidrs are as honest and down to earth as you are Aaron…that’s what I love about you and your videos. I get to experience the highs and lows of what you do and appreciate every second. In this day and age, you and Madeline are a breath of fresh air! God Bless you and yours and keep it all real (as if I need to tell you that)!

I’ve been digging your videos man. You seem like such a genuine dude and it’s awesome to watch your channel grow so well.

Family, religion, business, and recreation, setting goals and working hard in each of these four phases of life change my life in 1983. Hell just knowing life could be broke down in these four simple words was an epiphany for me. I feel ya, God bless

Positive attitude, hard work and a supportive partner equals endless possibilities. Keep it up dude, you earned it. Cool story.

Dude! This is exactly the reason I am such a fan! You are REAL! Thank you for baring your soul and telling us how you got to where you are. I can speak for so many of us when I say that we really appreciate you, your honesty amd realism! Best wishes to you Maddie and Will!

You may know my stepson, Kirk Dudley. He lived in the keys, lobster fished, crabbed, worked at AT&T doing cable, and had a small charter business. Unfortunately he passed away last year. He was a good young man. RIP

Much respect from Summerland Key. Failure is not an Option

I'm happy for you. You took a gamble and are on a path to achieving your term goals in life. I wish you nothing but the best in reaching your dreams.

Boom ! Been waiting for this… It did not disappoint,you are well deserving of your ‘schizzle’,quality counts,Keep up the good life !

I have a plaque that was given to me and it reads “If it was easy, every dumbass would do it”. Great story and just following where life would take you. The sheer positive message and hope you spoke about, without realizing it, made me pause RU-vid and just sit for a minute. Keeping it real. 👍🏼

I must admit,the main reason this channel became one of my favorite beside its great content is you Aaron,always sharing your knowledge with patience and love to the ocean.I wish that this channel will get much bigger,you surely deserve it! p.s always listen to your women's intuitions!

Aaron, you are wise past your years. I love the content and how humble you are. Keep up the good work and the phenomenal content!

That's a success story man! Now we need to hear Madeleine`s side of the story or her story how she came to the keys 👍🏻

Your video brought tears to my eyes. I'm a father of 3, know key west very well and live in SF. I love your story and am so proud for you both. Well done son, well done!

We truly enjoyed your story and are so happy for you both!

Thoroughly enjoyed this episode as it was long overdue. Your channel will continue to grow and thrive because of how genuine you are. I share the channel and watch old episodes often. You are also correct that time freedom is the ultimate goal. I retired at 31 from the NFL and aside from tending to my kids I’ve enjoyed time freedom for the last 11 years and it is the holy grail.

This was gold and I've been wanting to hear your story for a while. Thanks for sharing!

Really appreciate you sharing this story! It's incredibly inspirational, and I'm happy life has rewarded you and your loved ones for all of your passion, hard work and commitment!

I’m glad you posted this. It really brings light to the real struggle and hard work it takes. You’re down to earth and I’m glad to hear the story! A real inspiration

Amazing story man iv been watching you for a long time now this makes your story even more amazing hope things go as you wants it .

The support you receive is global. That must be an overwhelming feeling. I'm from Australia and watch all your videos, you inspire us so well. Whether it's cooking with Will, fishing for what we call mangrove Jack's in the shallows, diving, or these kinds of in depth clips, you inspire and thats not an easy task. Well done Aaron. I'm glad your hard work is paying off. I can see you and Madeline (I hope I spelt that right) doing key west/ pacific videos in the near future.

Aaron. Great story and great message. Keep living your dream and allowing us to come along on the journey.

Grace and Peace to you and your family. Love and Happiness is more powerful and valuable that any currency. You have done well my brother; Much respect. Always remember the “roots” that grew that powerful dream into reality.

Arron , that was the shortest 28 minute video I've ever seen. I can't believe my fortune when I found your channel. I grew up in Florida, fell in love with the water after I served my country. Your love of the water and everything that it entails makes me feel as if we're kindred spirits. I will always support your channel as much as I'm able to, I've said it before and truly mean it , you my friend are the real deal!!

Thanks for sharing your story Aaron! Very inspiring. You have the gift of storytelling. Keep using that gift to inspire people and change the world!

As always Aaron, you do a great job sharing, and this video was no exception in letting viewers get to know you better...Madeline and you make a great team...I look forward to your channel growing and both of you achieving your dreams...Blessings, j

Such a cool story! Thanks for sharing it!! We love watching your videos!!!

This popped up randomly in my feed and I'm glad I watched it. Great story! Keep doing what you are doing. You earned another subscriber!

Great video as always! Like your other videos,love the reality check in that “it takes work to achieve your goals” great lesson. Keep up the great work and I pray much success and happiness as you continue to live the dream!

Congrats my man. It’s a great and motivating story. “Follow through” is great advice!

Thank you so much for this!! You have no idea how encouraging and motivating this video was for me!! Looking forward to following your steps in my own way of course!! Thank you again and keep the hard work!!

Aaron this video gave me hope, my wife and I love the keys and visit them every year on vacation from central pa, we have that “keys fever” and embrace the life style when we are there, you’ve put into perspective that if there’s something you want, you can make it happen, my wife’s outlook of positivity is like Maddie’s, and I’m the realistic one in our marriage, maybe I should listen to her like you did to Maddie, I truly appreciate the perspective and hope you gave us, god bless and hope to see you in the keys one of these days.🙏🙏🙏

I really enjoyed hearing your story! Can't wait for 100K + subs for you; you deserve it! Love seeing you and Madeleine and you guys seem genuine and real, that's what makes the channel in my opinion. God bless!

Very inspiring. I’ve been wanting a video like this for awhile. I’ve been spreading the word to all my spear fishing buddies up here on Bull Shoals lake, Arkansas and we all admire your work. Keep it up man!

Respect to you Aaron for putting this out there. Definitely giving this video a like. Look forward to seeing more content.

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing all that super inspirational dude! This totally lit a fire in me and has my dream wheels spinning so watch me positive think my way into paradise next - you rock thanks for all you do keep at it congrats on the house and I look forward to your wedding episode! ;)

This is amazing, I watched the whole thing!! Your honesty awesome man and plzs keep up the amazing content you don’t know how much a stress reliever your videos are.

Amazing informational man! Been waiting on this and was well worth it. My move time hasn’t quite hit yet but it’s right around the corner. Keep up the awesome work!

Thank you for sharing your story openly and honestly and for the awesome content

Awesome! thank you for sharing and onwards and upwards! She is great! The game changes when you find the right person to share your dreams with.

I was chillin and burning and when I swiped down to see your notification it made me smile your the one and only waterman bro keep them videos coming

“Accidents” in success happen when hard work meets passion and opportunity.

WOW...Now that was awesome, I love when someone flollows through with their dreams, Keep it up and keep the videos coming, THANK YOU!!!!

Just recently found your channel. This is a very inspiring story. Having the time and freedom to do what you want to do hits home with me. Keep it up.

Great inspirational story of following a passion and sticking with it. Love that you come from Titusville and have positive things to say about it. I have lived here many years. I looked up your brother up on Facebook and found out he and I have a few mutual friends so our paths may have crossed.. Keep up the great work and you and Madeline will continue to build a great life together.

Aaron, thanks for sharing your story. How wonderful it is to have a dream and then to live it. Cheers!

You are an inspiration Aaron, keep on doing what you do. I genuinely wish you all the best!!

Congrats bro on putting in the hard work and getting to where you want to be! Definitely a great feeling, I'm working that way. Living the dream!!

Appreciate your story. To me, the best quality you bring to the videos is keeping things real! Time freedom is precious beyond words! You're definitely heading in the right direction. Best of luck to y'all in your journey!!

Loved the honesty you always bring to your videos! Keep it up! And hopefully this pushes you past the 100k subscriber milestone this week!!

Love your channel and content! You mentioned that you were going to make this video and I had been waiting for it. Thanks for making it.

If you inspired even one person to get out of their rut and start living their best life then you've done one hell of a good deed. My story was figuring out how to just move to Florida and buy a house and a big boat as a single man. It took me a good while and a lot of work but I made it happen and am happy as a clam. I have a decent home, two boats, two motorcycles and no woman dragging me down :)

By far my favorite video you've made Aaron, puts things in perspective for those of us who have a dream but are hesitant to pursue it. Really is an inspirational story and I appreciate you sharing it with us.

Awesome story and congrats on everything bud . You followed your dream , passion and your heart and never stopped . Being rich in life is following your dream and doing what you love for work and being happy with friends and family that you love and that love you . You inspire people and continue to and It shows in the comments , and you communicate with us on a personal level which is awesome you've commented back to me here and through email also out of your time which thank you I appreciate that . Your success is well deserved and will only grow . Love the videos and enjoy showing them to my kids and wifey God bless to you and your family brother ty again .

Someone just told me about your channel, and I'm really glad you made this video. I'm where you were 7+ years ago starting at the beginning and your story is super motivating for me, thank you for sharing!

Just had to say.... min 20 in and your story is amazing! I love it and I am happy for the both of you! I also love all of your RU-vid stuff!

Love to hear the back stories. Been watching your channel for a little while now. You e definitely worked hard. You can tell by watching the videos. Great job Aaron. Keep the vids coming. I used to spearfish a ton up here in NJ years ago. I miss it. Watching your channel has made me want to get back in to it. Stay safe.

listened to every word. you r living the life that most of us, who love the ocean, wants to live and you deserve it after all your efforts. I appreciate you for sharing. Thank you!!

One of the most genuine and honest post I’ve ever seen. You are an inspiration! Thank you!

Aaron this was a great video. I know it was posted a while ago but I just want you to know people are still seeing it for the first time and it is motivating. You seem like your still a humble guy enjoying the fruits of your labor. Thanks for putting out your content for us to enjoy.

Thank you for inspiring others to follow their dreams. Your channel is one of my favorites.

Dude, so happy for you man. This is really inspiring.

Born and raised in key west haven’t been back for at least 9 years but your videos help me not miss home as much ! Thank you !

I am officially crying because I am SO happy and proud of you guys, the part about the house really got me!

Keep Getting it Aaron, love to see a good person Succeed. All the best to you and Maddie.

Thank you beautiful I was one of those who requested your story awesome!!!

Great story. Glad you took the time to share it!

Love your story! I just found your page like a week ago and have been watching videos every day since. Your story is awesome! Your videos are addicting! I've learned a lot and now want to get into spearfishing in my home state of Michigan where it just became legal. You are truly an inspiration! I had to say it. Literally my first time commenting on RU-vid. Thanks for the videos. Best wishes and good luck! Maybe I'll get a chance to book a charter with you some day.

It’s so amazing here!!! I’m visiting Florida Keys and am staying on Big Pine. The lobster mini season is amazing! Thank you for all your vids because it helps me understand quite a few things here. Your paradise is amazing!

I am super proud of you! Glad to have been a part of your journey.

Thanks for the video we’ve all been waiting for. Looking forward to seeing you on the pacific side as well. I hope the best for you and glad to support you and your family.

This was literally the most inspiring video for me like ever. So down to earth guy. Love your videos. Best Wishes from a fellow dreamer from Austria.

Awesome story. I’ve been tuning in for quite some time now, and was lucky to have been able to have you as a charter captain last month when we came down from Jacksonville Fl. You are a genuine dude and a great fisherman. Thanks for always putting out great videos! The guys at the fire house still start out the morning with “Good morning boys and girls.”

Sitting here listening to you watching the background it's just a wonderful story.

Aaron, great stuff. Gutsy to say things with humility about your life. That was a lot to share. Thank you for having the courage and confidence to let us in. Everyone has a story but rarely do we get to hear them. Well dune.

I loved this video! You just talking about your journey is why I watch you. Being genuine is important.....not enough people do that! My dad worked for the Realtors in Chicago. I noticed that your pronounced that correctly....well done😋 The key is to surround yourself with people you want to be like!! I came to your channel from Gabe and Kelly's channels.....Keep it up...you are doing well. Have a great weekend!!

I have seen you and Madeline around town a few times and I truly appreciate, how you are in your videos is how you are in real life. This is in my opinion the best inside of the real keys life video I've ever seen. Keep it up. See you soon I'm sure.

Great video! Challenging, but beautiful and rewarding journey!! Thank you Madeleine for the positivity!! May all your dreams become reality!

Sacrifices is rewarded with success! It makes me happy see people succeed in life 🙌🏻

Enjoyed your story Aaron! I’ve seen your followers double since I started watching you! Also just retired from AT&T 2 years ago! Keep up the videos! Hopefully soon I’ll try and book you for a trip!

Really like how you bring the concept of reality and originally to your channel. Keep up the great work.

Man what a cool story.. funny how things hit at the right time .. I like many others watching your show appreciate your realistic down to earth point of view! This video will help people like myself push past the fear of losing money and push forward to the hope of finding happiness .. whatever it looks like for each person. You rock man

That is the best happiest success story I've heard - about, ever!

Happy to see you succeed going after your dreams. Sounds like you've earned ever bit of it. Hope to get down to the keys and meet you and go fishing! keep up the good work.

Love the back ground brother, way to get personal with the subs!! Keep livin' and learning. Wishing the best for you and Mad's....and Will of course!! 🍻

Love the video thanks! I’ve been following you for a long time now and I’m so happy to hear your success story and I think that you are very deserving!

Thank you for this video! You gave a lot of wisdom in this video, so great to know a little more about the man bringing quality content every Monday(with binus videos sprinkled here and there). You seem very humble and just an all around good person. Looking forward to seeing your future successes, and maybe someday coming down for a charter. Keep up the great work!

What an absolutely outstanding episode! Love how you mentioned that your hard work and passion got you where your at, so many people just want a handout and will never appreciate earning a good living. More ideas for the future….an episode on a charter spear fishing trip if you get clients that are open to it or fans of the channel. I’m glad to see more merch. got listed, bought a blue KWWM T-shirt that is going to be worn in West Michigan! Almost 100k subscribers 😁

One of the best, honest, and inspirational TUTORIALS I have ever had the pleasure of watching. From one business owner to another you have a great future with the passion you have for your life dream. Hard work, being humble and following that dream with the tenuousness that you show is awesome. Great job.

Inspiring story! Glad to see where you came from and how it all started!

WOW man this was so raw!!! Thanks for sharing our journey and life. Many of us love this candid look into your life. We ride with you on boats and join you under the water; but those of us that watch religiously love to know the back story. You and Mady are the best. Love from HB in CA

Incredible story, Im so inspired, great man, geeat dreams, thank you so much for sharing, now I got to get down there and go fishing with you, Thank You Sir!!!

Good for you Aaron. Your channel has really inspired me to take a chance and move to South Carolina. I’ve hated winters for 30 years and finally took the leap. I leave in two weeks and can’t wait for a fresh start. It’s not quite key west, but the ocean will be out my back door and I can’t wait

Shared this with all my family. Thank you so much. So inspirational. You have no idea how much I needed this. I found you through Bluegabe. So happy I did.

Hey I enjoyed your story,being honest and down to earth is appreciated.I grew up around the water here in south Alabama and my dad was a boat builder so I can understand how you love the water and fishing so much.Thanks for sharing your life with us 🙏I thought I had already subscribed but definitely did today.Please keep doing what you’re doing and I’m positive you will buy that Island get away 👍

I've always said for years that Key West will be my end destination. The lifestyle just calls my name. As a current boat captain in Miami, watching this video convinced me of my dream even more. Keep it up brotha. Living vicariously through your content in the meantime 🤙

Great video Aaron. Thank you so much for sharing with us lots of your personal life. I am sure that it will change someone life for all the better. I respect you as a person a great fisherman and a youTube video creator. Have a great day keep up the great work. 🤜🤛💯

Thanks for sharing this buddy, great to watch and hear your story. Keep up the good work!

Love how real you are that's what makes your videos different and also great info you give keep it up you'll get there 💯