In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Niki Bell, a finance professional who specializes in project funding for Series B and C companies across multiple industries, as well as commodities, precious metals, and commercial real estate. Niki explains her role in crafting funding strategies, matching companies with investors, and coaching clients on finance, business, and life. She emphasizes the importance of a fresh, empathetic perspective, listening without discouragement, and helping clients navigate past negative experiences in the financial sector. When discussing work‑life balance, she frames challenges as human issues, stresses the need for alignment between personal energy and the capital sought, and highlights her hands‑on approach to reviewing documents, sites, and team dynamics. Trust emerges as a central theme; Niki describes building conversational rapport with investors, likening calls to informal bar chats, and stresses that trust and innovative, adaptable funding strategies are essential for long‑term success. She shares a personal narrative about her first job—surviving adversity, cultivating resilience, and pursuing education—illustrating how inner transformation fuels professional growth. The episode concludes with contact information, directing listeners to her LinkedIn profile and phone number, and a reminder to access the podcast on various platforms.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hi Pete, my name is Nikki Bell. I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. So what do I do? I help people or companies, anything to do with financials, money, if they're in debt, you know, stocks, I've got a few pre-IPOs right now that I'm dealing with, buy and sell in terms of commodities. It doesn't matter if you've got gold, if you've got diamonds, I can deal with it all. Even I deal with commercial real estate. At the same time, I coach people as well in finance, in business, and in life. But technically, when we're talking about the financials, I deal with project funding, usually companies that have some sort of revenue, right? They can be startups, but not Series A. I tend to like Series B and C in the private sector, dealing with multiple industries. That's what I deal with. And what I do is I come up with strategies for companies, and then I guide them through the funding process. I educate them. Here in the United States, around the world. What I do is they do the same thing, come up with those business strategies and then match them with investors. And that's according to the Security Exchange Commission, which I'm in perfect alignment with.
Thank you, Nikki. It's great to have you on the show. And I love the enthusiasm. What's the best thing about— question number 2, what's the best thing about working in your industry?
Oh, I love working in my industry because you have to have a fresh new perspective. You know, whatever was discussed yesterday is yesterday. So when someone comes to me today, they could be brand new at the funding process. I always tend to give them a listening ear. That's so important not to come off as someone who wants to discourage them or, oh no, that's not going to work, or your dream is dead. I'm not that kind of person. I'm very down to earth. I'm very humble and I'm honored to be on the journey with them. And I let them know that because a lot of people don't see that. You know, in my industry, in the financial industry, a lot of people are faced with, you know, someone running off with their money, or they've had just these bad experiences. So once we flush through all of that, I'm able to get them on board and say, hey, this is what's going on. We're going to make your dream a reality. Let's do some practical steps. And then they go through my process and they get what they need.
Excellent. That's great. Question number 3: I hear from other business leaders that staying in a good work-life balance for them and their team members is a challenge. What are your thoughts?
It's a challenge if you come at it like it's a challenge. So I had someone say, well, I've got, you know, this $6 billion deal I'm dealing with. Okay, well, if we cut out the billions of dollars that you're dealing with, what are you really dealing with? What's really— what is really going on? Let's get to the crux of the issue here. We're all human beings, we all got issues, even our company, you know, and so that influences business decisions. So what I do is I come in, I'm not looking at personality conflicts and things of that sort. I'm looking at what it is that you're saying to me, the documents that you are providing, are they adding up? Yes. Is it a numbers game? Of course it is. But at the end of the day, I need everything to match up so that you look good in front of the investor. That's what that's about. And that's why people hire me for my service, because I can give them the ins and outs of what's going to happen, you know, how they need to, to look in terms of in front of the investor, how their presentation needs to be set up, what the investor's looking for, so on and so forth. So it's not just paperwork that I'm looking at. I'm going to their site, you know, before the pandemic, going to their site and really looking at their company, you know, the head of the teams, who's in the different departments, and working alongside them as a team member to get the job done. So I have to be balanced myself, and that's really, really important. In the morning when I wake up, I I'm self-motivated, I'm ready to go, I'm like, let's do this! So when people call me, sometimes they like to call me just for my energy. Well, what people don't understand is money is energy too. So if you're asking for $1 million or $20 million, you better come with that $20 million energy. That is so important, and that's what I bring to the table.
Love it. Question number 4, what other successful business leaders like yourself should be on my podcast?
Warren Buffett.
Oh, I would like that. I'll take it, yeah. I will reach out to him. Hopefully he'll listen. Question number 5, what insight or advice would you give to other business leaders?
Trust. Establish trust. I've had people that I've hired on that say, you know, you shouldn't have such an open schedule for people. Well, is it open? That's what the calendar's saying. I'm busy all the time. I'm busy every hour, every minute of the day. But I always take that time to have that conversation. A lot of times when investors are on the phone with me, they feel like they're at the bar, you know, like we're having beers and we're just on the phone with each other. So that trust is so important. And that's really the sell. If you want to pitch to someone and you want to, you know, have accomplished that, be able to have a conversation. And if you're not able to have a conversation, then you hire somebody like me that knows how to have that conversation. That's really important, but that trust is crucial. And as we go more and more into the years, you know, as we, decades after decades, things change in business, and you've gotta be able to change with that. You have to constantly be innovative. It's not just your project being innovative, it's you, it's the money being innovative as well. So that's why I came up with these strategies, these innovative strategies on how you can obtain the money that you need in order to scale your growth and move forward.
That's very insightful. Thank you. And question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
So my first job, you're probably going to be blown away by this, but it's a very humble thing that I'm going to say to everyone. My first job was learning how to survive. I wasn't that type of kid that, you know, got fed a silver spoon or a diamond spoon or whatever. Everything I've had to do, I've had to work for. Every failure has been my success. I think it was Einstein that said he failed 1,000 times, but it was that one time that really made it happen for him. And when you're doing your inner transformation, you know, that's why I do a lot of energy work and working on myself spiritually. When you do that shift, when that shift happens, it's like this explosion. You know, it's a beautiful thing. It's like fireworks going off. And then things just naturally begin to flow to you. And that's how money works. That's how you yourself should be working, not resisting the change that you want to see happen. And so for me, it's always was stepping into that as a child, stepping into that pain, overcoming all adversity, even as a young person, but going beyond that and having dreams and saying, you know what, I am somebody and I'm going to grow up to make something of my life, no matter how long it takes. So yeah, I'm going to apply to that big university, you know, straight from a country town. I'm going to apply to that big university. I'm going to maintain my grades. I'm going to be involved. I'm going to give back to my community. And nothing has changed since then. I'm still the same person, but I grow every day.
Mm, that is so inspirational. Thank you so much. And thank you for being on the show. Nikki, how can people find you?
Well, so this is being broadcast on LinkedIn, so you can find me on LinkedIn. I have a direct link or just Nikki Bell, N-I-K-I, and then last name is Bell, B-E-L-L. Hey, you can just call me 916-670-8080. My number is always there. I am virtually open. Just pick up the phone and call me.
Excellent. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks Thanks for listening.
