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Inspirational Irish Business Mentor and Entrepreneur Margaret Valette O'Connor

Entrepreneur. Mother. Changemaker.
Business Consultant.

INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION

Margaret Valette O’Connor is an award-winning Irish businesswoman, Business Consultant, and an Executive Life Coach. She is the former Managing Director of Quigleys, Café, Bakery, Deli – a bakery and coffee shop chain based in the Republic of Ireland which Margaret and her team grew from one location in 1988 to eighteen, employing 195 staff on the back of sales of €9 million.

Margaret stood down from her role at Quigleys in June 2019 and has completed her Diploma in Business and Executive Coaching at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Dublin and is now a part of the UCD Alumni Network.

Margaret can be contacted on: margaret@margaretvalette.com

Helping you to be the best you can be!

If you’re reading this, it means you are hungry for change, hungry to learn and hungry for growth.

Margaret Valette O’Connor has devoted her life to growing her business with her team all whilst raising her four children. She has experienced both the joys and the hardships that running your own business brings and knows all too well that the two often go hand-in-hand.

Margaret’s approach to business is authentic, transparent, up-front and refreshingly candid, avoiding the jargon and cliché’s that can be found in business text books.

Learning from Margaret is like getting a ticket to history! She’s been through the tough challenges, the economic booms, the recessions, changes in legislation and dealt with tricky family issues including divorce. If she’s spent 25 years figuring out how to do something, it means that you don’t have to spend 25 years learning what she’s got. It’s an amazing time to be in business with more resources open to you than ever before so take advantage of all the tools available to you. Learn from them, adapt them to your needs, and make them work for you in your style, your essence.

Think of Margaret as someone who is “outside the forest while you are inside the forest.” Most business problems are not new. They have happened to someone else at some time. Margaret could help move you closer to your goals more quickly by asking new questions and bringing new thinking. Contact Margaret today for advice, consultancy, or business coaching in areas including: Entrepreneurship, Retail, Customer Service, Retail Interior Design, the vital importance of managing yourself and Family Businesses – do’s and don’ts.

 
 
 

ADVICE & MENTORING

Many people fear Entrepreneurship, thinking it’s too difficult for them or “it’s not a good time” for them to consider it or there is a fear of failure or ridicule. But the reality is that most of us are entrepreneurial in some way: Have you come up with a way to improve things in your workplace? That’s entrepreneurial! Do you have to juggle many tasks at once? So do most entrepreneurs. Do you have to manage your household within a budget? Most successful businesses have budgets! Do you have to distract or pacify your child when they’re having a tantrum? That’s Human Resources and Negotiation in one!

The reality is we all do entrepreneurial “things” everyday – its just they are called something else. So don’t let fear be your deciding factor. Imagine a world without Steve Job’s Apple products or Tony Ryan’s Ryanair or Ray Kroc’s McDonalds? Imagine if they had been to scared to bring out the spark that was within them?

Margaret can help you consider your options and offer advice on next steps if you want to change your life in this way.

Get in touch today.

Retail is tougher and more unforgiving than ever before so it is important to get things right at the outset. From selecting the right location to the acquisition process to design to layout to legislation to choosing your professional team, Margaret has 25 years experience in opening and running her own Cafe’s and can help you avoid many of the pitfalls that could wreck your project before the doors open for business.

Get in touch today.

We now live in a world where almost everyone has access to almost everything. The one thing you can differentiate, one area where you can truly influence is through your customer experience and service. Every single point where a customer comes into contact with your business is an opportunity to delight or lost them.

  • Customer service – how the customer interacts with your employees
  • Customer experience  – is it easy and comfortable for the customer to do business with you or is it a source of pain for them?
  • Website – is your customer enjoying their experience on your website? Is this converting into sales?
  • What happens for customers when things go wrong? Is it left to chance or is this process managed?

Margaret’s experience could help you identify weak spots and tighten up your Customer Service so you delight, not disappoint.

Get in touch today.

Together with her design team, Margaret personally oversees the interior design of all her Café’s to ensure maximum customer comfort, operational efficiency and functionality.

This includes elements including:

  • Café Layout
  • Materials from fabrics to tiles to ceilings
  • Colours
  • Lighting
  • Signage
  • Equipment

Over the years, Margaret has built up a good idea or what works and what does not and could help you avoid costly errors.

Get in touch today.

Running a business is challenging enough. Involving family in your business will add a whole new layer of complexity so it is vital to plan ahead with care.

  • If your spouse is involved, this will add pressures to your business and personal relationships.
  • If your children are involved, the lines between parent, child and employee need to be clear at the outset.
  • Hierarchies can play a huge part between siblings, possibly influencing business decisions and outcomes.

People’s priorities change with time. Family members spouses’ can get involved and yield unwelcome influence. Priorities may not be aligned in the same direction and the lines between employee and family can become muddied.

It is important for everyone to remember it was you who brought your business to where it is now and to ringfence and protect your future and that of your business above all else.

Margaret has considerable experience in this area and knows it can be a source of distraction and wasted energy so you can learn from her and hopefully avoid storing up problems for the future.

Get in touch today.

Margaret is an advocate for career empowerment which goes hand in hand with personal development; helping to increase your self-awareness and identity to expand your thinking, develop your talents and explore possibilities.

Get in touch today.

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Would you like to benefit from Margaret Valette O’Connor’s experience and unique skills?

To benefit from Margaret’s insights and experience in business, the challenges that women continue to face in business or to inspire and show what can be achieved with the correct, positive mindset, email: margaret@margaretvalette.com

If submitting the form below, please include your name, contact information, organisation name (if any), the nature of your enquiry and what you need Margaret’s help with.

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