BUSINESS COACHING that TURns
EXPERT COACHES, CONSULTANTS & FOUNDERS INTO AUTHORITY BRANDS
Coaching that goes beyond visibility tactics to name exactly what you want to own in your industry.
Turn the way you think
into IP, messaging & offers
that generate inbound demand for your brilliant brain.
A brilliant brain needs a buyable message to match.
A brilliant brain needs a buyable message to match.
Proud to feature in
& partner with
You've earned your credibility. But you're lost for words when it comes to explaining it.
You've got years of experience in your field, an established track record, and clients who'll sing your praises to anyone who'll listen.
And yet the work feels like it arrives by accident. Referral, word of mouth, someone who happened to be in the right room with you at the right time.
So income feels patchy, and you're left filling gaps with whatever work you have to say yes to… the underpaying day rate, the legacy workshop client, the client who keeps coming back.
It keeps you busy enough. But it leaves you little time to build the thing that would change this once and for all.
Your problem isn't visibility. Your problem is translation because not enough of the right people understand what the work actually is, or when they'd need it.
Nobody wakes up shopping for your best work so you keep selling your second-best.
This isn't about changing what you do.
You have command of your craft. You’re an expert. But unfortunately there are many of those out there competing for the same work.
Your next move? Become an an In-Demand Authority Brand.
What changes when you become an Authority Brand.
You’ll find that you:
Get paid for how you think, not just what you can deliver
Attach your work to a moment someone already has budget for so it stops being a nice-to-have
Get found by the right people before the sales call even happens
Stop saying yes to briefs that keep the lights on but don't light you up
Build a reputation and practice that compounds, instead of starting again each quarter
It all starts with The Ask.
You ready to go from expert in your craft to an in-demand Authority Brand?
Most founder have built their expertise in layers: years of client work, hard-won insights, a body of ideas.
But they’ve yet to package everything up and put it to work in a way that grows their reputation before they ever enter the room.
I help you change that. Together we will:
Name and claim what you most want to own in your industry (The Ask)
Turn your thinking into IP, messaging & offers that travel. From clear positioning, authority frameworks to long-form essays and Hero Pieces (The Answer)
Keep developing your insights and grow your client base through a habit, systems and structures that are sustainable (The Practice)
If that sounds like the work you’ve been meaning to do, here are three ways we can work together depending on where you’re at:
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Begin with The Ask®: A single focused session that leaves you able to answer one question: what do you truly want to own in your industry?
Even after a years in business some founders haven't named this with conviction.
We cut through the noise until you have it: the ONE door into your world, and the clarity to build everything else from clicks into place.
It's also how many people take their first step into working with me*.
Enquire for coaching. *Slots limited
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The Practice : The flagship programme for coaches and consultants ready to build their authority brand properly. Through 1-1 focus sessions, structured guidance, Ellen’s editorial feedback, smart peers and weekly calls, you'll turn scattered ideas and approaches into the IP, messaging and offers for predictable inbound demand.
New cohort opening for autumn. Learn more & apply. -
1-1 Coaching & Advisory for scaled founders
For founders who've already hit multi-six figures or beyond, the questions you bring coaching change.
For these clients, our sessions are less about building the brand and more about what comes next — a pivot, a new business, a bigger role in your industry, a move to a new country, becoming a parent, or simply figuring out what the next chapter is supposed to look like when the one you worked so hard for has actually arrived.
This is a private space to think out loud with someone who understands what it means to be at the top of your field and who’s played coach and confidante to many more.
From navigating the rewards, the pressure, and the things that don't fit neatly into a single strategy session.
Get in touch here. Capped to 5 Advisory clients at a time.
The answers they decided to own
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Natassia | Sexologist & Relationship Coach
My authority went from a general passion for intimacy education to leading Wonderlust with a very clear purpose. I liked how Ellen pushed back and kept me in check. Since then I’ve landed opportunities including the Sex Talks series at Soho House New York, and features in NBC, Cosmopolitan and Glamour.
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Simon | Transformation Consultant
Ellen makes dreams come true! She does for your career what a physical trainer does for your fitness. She'll put you through your paces, but it's the best (and smartest!) way to get the results you want. I've launched my brands as a writer and consultant, landed my first clients, and will be working from Mexico City!
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![Hannah Mayfield, Personal Finance Authority]()
Hannah | Personal Finance
My favourite part of trusting Ellen is that I can ‘brain dump’ all the ideas floating around in my head and translate them into considered and focused strategies with her guidance. I really appreciate working with Ellen to act as a trusted sounding board. I felt much clearer on proceeding with the ‘media company’ positioning which shaped my next decisions and action steps. I recently hit 30k audience on Instagram so it’s all working really well so far.
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Byron | Founder Psychologist
I didn't know what to expect from working with a coach, but in five months with Ellen I achieved all of the goals I set out to achieve. I was blown away by the additional brand and social media support which even made me a better writer. An ideal client found me through a Google search right off the back of the website work we did together, and booked me for a $4k package.
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Kate | Mindset & Performance
I had authority in my field. Years of NHS training and research had given me that. What I didn't have was a way to communicate it in the coaching space. Ellen is calm, knowledgeable and in control — amazing at processing large amounts of information and helping me make sense of my many thoughts. Practical and forward-thinking, she pushes me outside my comfort zone. I'm now consistently fully booked and delivering talks.
Hi, I'm Ellen Donnelly. Founder of The Ask®
I've spent my career finding words for other people's talent.
Before founding The Ask® and training as a coach in 2020, I spent nearly a decade in talent and startup advisory. Lots of helping professionals articulate their brilliance to find paying customers, investors or employers as a result.
What I do today builds on a similar skillset.
Today I’ve coached 230+ coaches, consultants, and founders. People whose thinking is their product.
I’ve focused on helping them grow thriving businesses that reflect the depth of their ideas. Even the most brilliant brain needs a buyable message to match.
In these past six years I’ve tweaked and tested my own messaging more times than I can count (each time getting closer and closer to the work that truly lights me up).
My clients are experienced consultants, coaches, and founders who want my help with both creativity and strategy. It’s an honour to call this work.
I'll tell you what I think. Push back when something’s off. Stay objective in the way the people closest to you can't.
Clients reach me from across the world, mostly through my long-form writing and I run my practice from London or often somewhere considerably warmer. I'm proof that building a business around your brain works and can provide you a tonne of flexibility, fulfilment and financial reward along the way.
I’m so glad you found your way here.
Read the latest from The Ask® blog
Wondering where to start?
Take The Authority Entrepreneur Quiz — and find out exactly where to focus next
Podcasts & Press Featuring Ellen
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Financial Times
Ellen was asked to contribute to the FT's Money piece about freelancers and self-employed consultants taking centre stage in a world where corporate careers are taking a back seat.
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Coffee & Oysters: The London Business Babe Podcast
Ellen shares her entrepreneurial journey from recruitment to becoming a renowned business coach. She emphasizes the importance of choosing yourself, carving out a niche, and consistently showing up to build authority in your space. Ellen provides practical tips for female founders and solopreneurs, including strategic decision-making, setting professional boundaries, and finding work-life balance in London. A passionate advocate for women in business, Ellen discusses her productivity tools, morning routine, and the habits that keep her grounded as a successful entrepreneur.
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Reputation Revolution
Ellen joins Trevor Young to talk through her five-part framework for building a profitable service business on your own terms. She breaks down how to define your unique contribution, create a methodology that's distinctively yours, and move beyond time-for-money without burning out. The conversation covers the difference between marketing and actually asking for the sale, why starting with a service beats launching a course, and how to package your expertise in ways that give you both financial safety and creative freedom. If you're thinking about leaving corporate or running a business that feels misaligned, this is a grounded take on what it really takes to build something sustainable.
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Work is Weird Now
Ellen joins the Work is Weird Now podcast to discuss why the 9-to-5 is becoming outdated and more people are turning to freelance work, gig roles, and one-person businesses. She explores the erosion of trust in corporate structures, the impact on women with caring responsibilities, and why this shift has been accelerating since the pandemic. Ellen shares her view that not everyone should be an entrepreneur, but explains why more people are being pushed into it anyway — through layoffs, back-to-office mandates, and a breakdown in the employer-employee contract. If you're questioning whether traditional employment still works for you, this is a grounded look at what's really happening.
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The Company Doctor
Instilling a healthy dose of self-belief and guiding solopreneurs to success is Ellen Donnelly’s superpower, and she’s the perfect guest on The Company Doctor Podcast to inspire those of you ready to take the leap. Discover the ingredients to building a billion pound, one-person business in this episode
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Gross to Net
Ellen talks through her career shift from executive recruitment into coaching entrepreneurs who want to build one-person businesses. The conversation explores why people start businesses in the first place, what drives that decision, and what it really takes to make the leap. Ellen provides some on-air consulting, the tables get turned, and the discussion becomes a live example of the kind of strategic thinking that goes into building authority and clarity around your work. If you're considering a pivot or wondering whether entrepreneurship is right for you, this is a candid look at the transition.
Every founder I work with is heading to the same destination: a practice that's fulfilling, well-matched to their strengths, and financially rewarding. But they arrive from very different starting points. I map out five distinct profiles I see repeatedly across my coaching practice, from the Reluctant Generalist to the Expansive Builder, and what each one actually needs to move forward.
Ideas-based businesses are uniquely vulnerable to feeling amorphous, even to the person running them. Without physical edges to hold onto, your business can quietly evaporate during a holiday, a hard month, or a moment of doubt. Here's how to weigh it down.
If your enquiries feel off, the instinct is often to rethink the offer — but usually it's the positioning that needs attention first. That's the thread running through this edition's coaching conversation, alongside Kate Hurst's authority story: how an NHS Psychologist found her standpoint, got fully booked, and started building something she once thought was out of reach.
When everyone can publish, no one is automatically trusted. For experienced coaches and consultants, this creates a strange tension: the depth is there, but it lives scattered across client documents, workshop slides, and posts that never quite added up to anything. I make the case for the One Big Idea: the through-line that makes your expertise coherent, referral-ready, and capable of travelling without you.
Smart, visible founders often struggle with inconsistent inbound. Not because of a lack of talent, but because their thinking is fragmented across posts, offers, and platforms. Without a centre of gravity, authority doesn't compound.