The Reality of Year One: How Abigail Couper-Douse Is Building Toddler Sense Gateshead
There is a version of business growth that looks very neat from the outside. You launch, people book, the classes fill and suddenly you are a business owner with everything under control.
Then there is the actual first year.
Bookings go up and down. You reinvest constantly. You learn things you did not even know you needed to learn, and every now and then you wonder whether everybody else has somehow been given a manual you missed.
That honesty was what I loved about my conversation with Abigail Couper-Douse, who launched Toddler Sense Gateshead in December 2025 and is now a finalist for New Business of the Year, sponsored by Popolo Ceramico, at The Class Business Awards 2026.
Her launch was huge. Her ambition is huge. But she is also very clear that she is still building, learning and working towards the next milestone: being able to pay herself a wage.
From the Beauty Counter to Toddler Classes
Abigail did not come into the children’s activity sector from teaching or early-years education. Before Toddler Sense, she worked on beauty counters in John Lewis Newcastle for Estée Lauder and Clarins.
On paper, the two careers might look completely unrelated. In reality, Abigail realised she had spent years developing one of the most important skills she now uses every day: building trust quickly.
“If you were to come up to me on a Clarins counter and you want to ask me about a foundation… it’s not necessarily the product that I’m going to sell you. It’s me.”
That ability to make somebody feel comfortable, listen to them and build a connection in a short space of time has transferred directly into her classes.
It is also a useful reminder that the experience you bring into a class business does not need to look obvious. Customer service, sales, communication and relationship-building can be just as valuable as sector experience.
Seeing the Opportunity as a Customer
The idea for Toddler Sense came through Abigail’s own parenting journey.
After having her second daughter, she attended Baby Sensory in Gateshead and immediately noticed how different the experience felt. There was a permanent venue, familiar faces every week and a programme built around child development.
More importantly, there was community.
“I made two friends in particular who are like my people. They are my people now.”
When Abigail discovered there were several Baby Sensory businesses locally but no Toddler Sense follow-on, the opportunity became obvious.
“I thought, well, ding, surely this is a no-brainer.”
She could see the gap because she had experienced it from the customer side first.
The things that convinced her included:
- A clear need for a follow-on class locally
- A recognised programme she already believed in
- The opportunity to create a permanent, welcoming space
- A chance to build the kind of community she had valued herself
- A territory with families travelling from several surrounding areas
That combination was enough to make Abbi do something she admits surprised even her.
She went all in.
A Launch That Could Not Have Happened at a Harder Time
Abigail gave herself time to prepare for her Christmas launch, slowly building visibility through Instagram and Facebook and connecting with the Baby Sensory businesses around her.
At the same time, life became extraordinarily difficult. Her husband lost his job, her father-in-law became seriously ill and later died, and Abigail had to move house with her two daughters while her husband was in Scotland with his family.
Somehow, the business launch was happening in the middle of all of it.
Then the bookings opened.
“At some points there was 18 people in the queue trying to buy spaces.”
Abigail originally planned around 90 places across several Christmas party dates. Demand was so strong that she added another two days and still sold everything out within a week.
For a brand-new business, it was enormous validation.
“I’ve seen a gap in the market in the area and people are responding to that.”
But the next lesson came quickly. Special events and termly bookings are not the same thing.
January was colder, darker and harder to sell. Abigail still achieved around 75 bookings for her first term, but she began learning the rhythm that every established provider knows well: demand moves, customers behave differently throughout the year and one successful launch does not mean every future sale will be effortless.
Community for Customers and Business Owners
One of the smartest things Abbi has done in her first year is recognise that community should not only exist inside her classes.
She created the Gateshead Children’s Activity Collective, bringing together five local women-led businesses including Baby Sensory, Bloom, Little Movers and Hartbeeps.
Rather than treating one another purely as competitors, they cross-promote, share opportunities, carry each other’s materials and provide support when somebody has a difficult day.
Abigail’s reasoning is simple. If Gateshead becomes known as a brilliant place for family activities, everybody benefits.
The collective creates opportunities to:
- Cross-promote classes to relevant families
- Share local events and opportunities
- Ask for advice from more experienced providers
- Support one another through challenges
- Strengthen the wider family activity sector locally
“We want to see each other thrive as well as thriving ourselves.”
That is the kind of collaboration I would love to see more of across this sector.
The Goal Nobody Talks About Enough
For all the excitement around the launch, Abigail is refreshingly open about her biggest goal for year one.
She wants to pay herself.
At the moment, the business covers its expenses and allows her to keep investing in the classes, but the money is going back into making the experience better.
“My main goal, I’m just going to be totally frank, is to be able to pay myself a wage.”
That should not feel like an uncomfortable thing to say.
A business has to become financially sustainable.
You can be creating brilliant classes, getting amazing feedback and growing a strong community while still working towards that point.
Abigail also understands that family buying habits are changing. With increased funded nursery provision and busy family schedules, committing to a full term can feel like a harder sell than it once did.
That makes every customer more valuable and retention even more important.
Recognition in the Middle of the Journey
Abigail is still in her first year, which makes becoming a finalist for New Business of the Year particularly meaningful.
She had never run a business, entered an award or written an application before.
“I’ve never done this before. I’m brand new. I have high, I’ve got a lot of ambition.”
The finalist recognition gave her something she had not expected: validation from people outside her own customer community that she is building the business in the right direction.
And perhaps that is the biggest lesson from her story.
You do not need to have reached the finish line before you are allowed to recognise your progress.
Watch the Full Interview
Abbi’s story captures the first year of business in all its slightly chaotic glory: the huge highs, the uncomfortable numbers, the constant reinvestment, the uncertainty and the moments where you realise you really might be building something special.
👉 Watch Abbi’s full finalist interview here.
If you are in that stage yourself, The Class Business Live on Saturday 10 October gives you the chance to have those conversations with people who genuinely understand it. We are bringing finalists, judges, sponsors and class business owners together at the National Conference Centre in Solihull for speakers, mastermind discussions and the kind of practical, honest conversations that are difficult to find when you are building alone.
Then, once the daytime conversations are done, we get to celebrate the progress properly at The Class Business Awards & Afterparty.
👉 Be in the room for The Class Business Live and Awards.
