One of the most common questions people ask when they hear I set up my own business is: โHow did you start?โ Mesi Balog, Confidence Coach and Founder of The Confidence Club shares her business story in a hope of inspiring others to follow her example…
How did you start your business is often a question driven by both curiosity and fear. Many of us, including, many EAs and PAs dream of working for themselves but hesitate when it comes to taking the first step.
We naturally ask ourselves questions about our role: Is this the right path? Is this the right job, the right company, the right role? Is this all there is, or is there something more for me?
If that sounds familiar, youโre not alone. But hereโs the truth: your EA or PA background may be the strongest foundation youโll ever have for launching a business or stepping into a leadership role. Why? Because you already wear multiple hats, solve complex problems, communicate clearly, manage time and people, and see how companies operate from the inside. These arenโt just admin skills – these are entrepreneurial skills. All these skills are essential and help build up confidence.
How did I end up starting my own business?
I was living in the UK for 2 years, when โ to my biggest surprise – a giant fintech firm hired me in London. Back then I was absolutely lost with my career. I only knew one thing: starting off as an EA had endless opportunities. I was hoping to try as many different roles as I could and then choose my direction. I took on extra tasks, I did overtime, I volunteered for extra event jobs during weekends and even did a secondment at the events department โ when another EA had to completely take over my role to allow me fully to focus on my secondment.
During my eight years at the company, I worked in multiple roles. Starting in events, and moving on to marketing, sales, internal communications, business management, project management, employee engagement and wellbeing. Still, it felt like I wasnโt at the right place for me. Something was missing.
What to do if your confidence is being โcrushedโ by your boss or company
I could probably write a book just about this. And interestingly I now understand why some of these challenging situations at work felt like I am a victim and was blaming everyone else and the circumstances around me. If you are not confident in yourself and your inner peace does not give you unshakeable strength – you will constantly feel down and โloosingโ in these workplace arguments or challenges.
There will always be someone in the team, a narcissistic boss, a demanding supervisor – who may be difficult to handle. This is life. We can not change this – and the most important thing is to know that we have zero control over these people, situations, their reactions or behaviour. There is one single truth to follow – and that is to stay in our own power and train those mental muscles to be able to stay calm under pressure, not to join any fights or arguments. Instead, represent your point in a constructive way without dragging others down around us.
Advice from myself as an EA on how to train your confidence
This is my advice to everyone, who feels what I felt as an EA. I felt constantly overwhelmed, said yes to everything and everyone, was the No.1 go-to person for the whole company and the last soldier leaving the office every evening. We all have one shot in this life – and the sooner we realise that we – and only we – have the power to change things, feel better and happier – the quicker that โmagicalโ confidence is going to grow.
Turning obstacles to opportunities
Just after I delivered my biggest project at this giant company and felt the most fulfilled โ my career and my entire life had a massive twist. From one day to another my role was made redundant.
Iโll never forget that day. When you live in another country as a foreigner, your colleagues are also your family. You are not prepared to let them go, also you have no one to go to as you live separated from your loved ones back in your home country. It was not easy to handle the situation โ but a feeling did arise deep within me: it had to be this way and that itโs an opportunity.
I had already been thinking about setting up my own business, but letโs be honest when you get your comfortable salary each month, you never really feel ready to take the jump. I didn’t allow myself to dwell on the idea long, and just two months after my redundancy I had my limited company set up. I was a Business Owner. Treat Your Staff was born and the rest is history. If anyone thinks thatโs the end of the story, that was only the beginningโฆ
Hear the second part of the story live from Mesi, the Founder on the 6th of October. UKโs fastest growing community on confidence building is coming to London: join the next in person meetup of THE CONFIDENCE CLUB at the beautiful venue of Unispace London.
The Confidence Club launch event in London, September 2025 at Hilton Shoreditch
๐You can book your place at the monthly event here.
As a PA Life reader, you can get ยฃ20 off your ticket price when using the code PALIFE.
๐ Upcoming events: October 6th, November 4th and December 1st.
Conclusion
The point of this story is that being in an EA or PA role is a great position to be in as it provides diverse opportunities for building different skills, trying new things and specialising in the areas you enjoy doing. I would not be able to run my own business today without all those busy corporate years as an EA.
Mesi has been a wellness columnist for PA Life and also shares excellent wellbeing advice in regular articles such as ‘An EAs guide to organising an office wellness week’.
