Bobby Bones is not afraid of working hard, at anything, and it shows. The Arkansas native grew up in a single-parent home with a struggling young mother, in the rural town of Mountain Pine. His life seemed destined for struggles, but even at a young age, Bobby knew he wanted a different path for himself, and the only way to accomplish it was to work harder than anyone else.

“The key has been hard work and even though it doesn’t happen for me the first or 13th time, every time that it doesn’t work, I learn something new and eventually patch all that together in creating my own path,” Bobby told Forbes. “If you let people know what your goals are, they can actually help you.”

Bobby’s successes are almost too numerous to count. An award-winning radio show, a Mirrorball Trophy for winning Dancing With the Stars, two New York Times best-selling books, a podcast, serving as the in-house mentor on American Idol, an upcoming show, Breaking Bobby Bones, coming next year on National Geographic, and a 2020 ACM Award-winning National On-Air Personality of the Year. None of it, he insists, would have happened without others, which is exactly why he also tries to help others struggling to get ahead.

“Most people love helping folks, so if you just let people know your goals and you work hard at them, you get to do them so much faster,” Bobby reflected. “That’s what I want to encourage people to do: You have to let people know. So many instances in life that’s been a big factor for me — just telling people I want to do this. Sometimes they can’t make it happen right then, but it’s always been something that has come back around.”

The 40-year-old has already achieved so much, but there’s more he still wants to do, including potentially running for governor of Arkansas.

“There have been some really intense conversations with people in that world,” Bobby admitted. “They want me to declare by November of next year, because it’s going to take a year of campaigning to run for the spot and I’d have to give up everything here.

“At this point,” he added, “I just want to do what fulfills me and it may be that.”

The Bobby Bones Show can be heard here.