About

Hi. I’m Robert Ellis. I’m an executive coach, founder of Coaching From Essence, a training and community for extraordinary coaches, and the author of the Amazon #1 bestselling book Coaching From Essence: Create a Thriving Practice Doing Powerful Work With Clients You Love.

With over 30 years of experience working with global companies—spanning startups, mid-stage, Fortune 500 giants, and non-profits—I've guided leaders to take their impact to the next level at any stage of growth. My proven strength in coaching entrepreneurs and CEOs to become better leaders, think more strategically, create high-performing teams, foster future-friendly cultures, and deliver compelling presentations—including several high-profile IPO roadshows—earned me praise from one client as “one of Silicon Valley’s best-kept secrets.”

I’ve taught leadership and coached entrepreneurs at Singularity University and developed Level UP, the leadership curriculum for the Global Startup Program. I was one of the founding coaches for the Nasdaq Milestone Maker program, helping late-early to mid-stage entrepreneurs grow their businesses to the next level. I’ve also taught Facing Challenge, Navigating Change: Leadership and The Hero’s Journey, an 8-week course at Stanford University using Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as a framework to explore mindsets and skillsets for leading yourself and others on a heroic journey in business and in life.

I have Stage IV prostate cancer. At the time of my diagnosis in November 2017, the five-year survival rate was less than 10 percent. I'm approaching the end of Standard of Care, treatments with known benefits, and have few good options.

When I was diagnosed, I thought, “Why me?” Then I realized I was asking the wrong question. A better question was, “What am I going to make cancer mean for me?” I decided it was my teacher. And it’s taught me a lot.

One of the things it has taught me is that love is the most important thing in life. And not to be afraid to say, “I love you”—and not to wait to say it.

I love you. That’s why I’m giving away my life’s work. Read on.

The Coaching From Essence Book

Everything you need to know to create a thriving practice doing powerful work with clients you love.

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Whether you’re a life coach, an executive coach, an internal coach, or someone who is just starting as a coach and wants help finding your way, this book is for you. You’ll learn how to discover your essence, your way of being in the world that creates value for others without any thought or effort on your part. When you work from your essence, coaching is easy, natural, and fun. You’ll love your clients, and your work will have a profound impact.

Whether you’ve never coached or are already an experienced coach, you’ll learn how to get powerful results and take your current skills to the next level. You’ll learn how to create a thriving coaching practice, one that sustains you both personally and financially.

There’s no guarantee you’ll make six figures as a coach, but if you’re willing to do the work, you’ll no longer have to wonder what it takes. You’ll learn exactly what to do, what to say, and how to keep your clients happy so you can love what you do, do powerful work, and make more money than ever.

The book is really about how to create a life you love.

Read the first ten chapters Buy on Amazon

An absolute must for coaches

Whether you're an executive coach or a life coach, this book captures the magic of why people come to you, and how to deliver truly transformational results for your clients. I love the simple frameworks and the stories he uses to bring them to life. I'm already employing many of these with my clients and they resonate universally, automatically, and deeply. Right up there alongside The Prosperous Coach and Masterful Coaching - the bibles of coaching and practice building.

—Hilary Bell

A deeply helpful and useful book

This book is such a wonderful combination of the conceptual and practical, the intuitive and mechanical art of coaching. From large scale frameworks to 'what to do when...' options this is a fantastic manual for coaches who are just starting out and those with much more experience. Readable, accessible, insightful and pragmatic - I can't recommend this highly enough.

—Scott Bowman

A Powerful distillation of coaching wisdom from a generous teacher

This book is like sitting in a fireside chat with Robert, absorbing his profoundly wise and profoundly simple approaches to coaching. Sometimes, a new idea can feel so true that it lands like common sense - all the pieces fitting together so seamlessly and effortlessly. Robert's metaphors, stories and models hit like that - like powerful truths you knew all along... This book isn’t just for coaches who want a more effortless and human approach to doing this work, it’s for anyone who wants to be deeply helpful to their clients, their teams, their organization, and to lead conversations in a more impactful way.

—Daniel Stillman

A powerful model of a meaningful life, not just for coaches

I was originally drawn to Robert's work because I wanted what the title promises-to create a thriving practice doing powerful work with clients I love... What I was not expecting was that the way this book transformed my coaching practice was really the result of the way it transformed my life... The generosity in this book is beyond words. Robert openly shares not only his decades of experience as a master coach, but also lays bare the lessons and insights gained from painful passages in his own life.

—Bhama Roger

The Coaching From Essence Community

A global community of more than 1,000 extraordinary coaches.

The essence of Coaching From Essence is the conviction that everyone has a natural way of being in the world that’s valuable without any thought or effort on their part.

The first cohort of Coaching From Essence met in 2020. Before COVID-19 turned the world on its head, 21 coaches from as far away as Singapore and Chile met in an Airbnb in Brisbane, south of San Francisco. Over a long weekend, from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon, they learned how to do powerful work, love what they do, and create practices that would support them financially to do the work they love.

After COVID-19, the program went online, making it available to people from all over the world. Three cohorts were recorded over Zoom, and the program was made completely free on the community forum.

There are over a hundred hours of video training,coaching demonstrations, master classes, a client creation sprint, and numerous resources. You can also network with more than 1,000 coaches committed to helping each other. All free. (But I hope you’ll buy the book).

Join the Community

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Videos recorded at a retreat held last year at Mt. Madonna are available on YouTube.

Whatever you’re longing for is possible for you. Your essence must have it’s way in the world for you to be happy. Please don’t let your fears get in the way of creating your life from essence, abundance, service, and trust. Everything you need to know to create a life you love is in the book and in the videos.