Stop Comparing and Keep Going: How Ali Foster Grew Phonics with Robot Reg Ashbourne
There is something very exposing about the first year of business.
You can be doing all the right things, showing up consistently, learning as you go and still look at somebody else’s packed class and wonder whether you have made a huge mistake.
That was one of the most honest parts of my conversation with Ali Foster, who runs Phonics with Robot Reg Ashbourne and is a finalist for New Business of the Year, sponsored by Popolo Ceramico, at The Class Business Awards 2026.
Ali launched less than two years ago after leaving primary education, and her first class had just two or three children in it.
Today, she is growing her community classes, delivering at major local festivals, moving into preschool settings and already thinking about building a team.
But none of that happened overnight.
Leaving School and Starting Again
Ali had worked in a primary school teaching phonics and loved the children, the early-years environment and watching how much progress could happen in a single year.
What she did not love was everything around it.
“It was time for me to leave the school for everyone’s reason why they want to leave the school. I love, love, love the kids. It’s the politics side that I wasn’t a great fan of.”
When the Phonics with Robot Reg franchise appeared in an email, she decided to go for it.
Ali was not completely new to franchising. Years earlier she had run Slimming World, but this was a very different world and a very different stage of life.
She started locally in Ashbourne with only a handful of children.
That is the part of a business journey people often skip when they tell the story later.
The tiny classes.
The doubt.
The wondering whether you should have stayed in the safe job.
Ali remembers it clearly:
“You’ve got two, three families and you’re thinking, have I made the wrong decision?”
The Danger of Watching Everybody Else
Starting a business today means you are surrounded by other people’s success.
You open Instagram and see sold-out classes, huge brands, full venues and providers who seem to have everything figured out.
The temptation is to compare their middle with your beginning.
Ali did exactly that.
“You’ve got big name companies out there that got hundreds and hundreds of children and you think, gosh, I’ve only got four in my class.”
That comparison created anxiety, but it also taught her one of the biggest lessons she now carries into year two.
Her advice is beautifully simple:
“Stop judging yourself.”
The things Ali learned in that first year were not complicated, but they were important:
- Customers do not always book months in advance
- Consistency matters even when bookings feel slow
- Visibility becomes easier the more you practise it
- Other providers are not automatically your competition
- A small class can still create huge impact
You have to give people time to discover you.
And you have to give yourself time to become the business owner you are still learning to be.
Phonics Is About More Than Letters
Ali’s passion for phonics comes from seeing it as the very beginning of a child’s learning journey.
With younger children, the focus might be sounds, nursery rhymes, sharing, confidence and motor skills.
As they grow, those foundations develop into recognising sounds, breaking words apart and beginning to read.
Ali lights up when she talks about those moments.
She remembers a parent calling to say their child had spotted a sound they had learned in class while looking at a packet of crisps in the supermarket.
It is a tiny moment, but that is exactly why it matters.
The learning has travelled out of the class and into everyday life.
Ali is also seeing the wider challenges children are facing around speech, language and social development, particularly following the pandemic years.
That is why she feels so strongly about children getting out into classes and being around others.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s my class or one of the other fantastic classes… just get out and go to any class because it really, really does benefit the child.”
That mindset is important.
There are lots of brilliant providers out there and families often attend more than one activity. The goal is not to convince parents that yours is the only class worth attending.
It is to do your thing brilliantly.
The Moments That Prove It Is Working
Some of the biggest impact Ali has seen has nothing to do with whether a child can recognise a particular sound.
It is confidence.
She talks about one little boy who initially would not even come through the door and spent weeks hiding behind his mum or nanny.
His family trusted the process and kept coming.
By the end of his time with Ali, he was first into the class, giving her a huge hug, wearing his Robot Reg T-shirt and dancing around with confidence.
Another little girl was so shy she barely moved during the end-of-class Robot Reg rave.
Later, she was first up for the wigs, hats and glasses.
Those are the stories behind the business.
The visible transformation.
The parent messages.
The child who suddenly realises, “I can do this.”
For Ali, that is what keeps her going.
Her focus now is on:
- Growing into more preschool and nursery settings
- Showing settings the value despite tight budgets
- Continuing to strengthen community classes
- Building a future team of class leaders
- Reaching more families without losing the fun
Taking the Next Step
Ali has already taken Phonics with Robot Reg beyond weekly community classes.
She has delivered at Why Not Festival twice, with tens of thousands of people attending the wider event.
The first time was terrifying.
The second time, children who had seen her the year before were waiting for her and asking for Robot Reg before she had even properly got started.
That tells you something about the power of consistency.
People remember you.
Children remember you.
And eventually, the business that once had two or three children in a class starts to build its own momentum.
Recognition for a Business Still in Its Early Days
Ali is a finalist for New Business of the Year, sponsored by Popolo Ceramico, at The Class Business Awards 2026.
She admits she never imagined she would make it to the final.
“I never in a million years would I have thought I’d get to a finalist for this company.”
But what I loved most was how quickly she turned the recognition back towards the families who had supported her.
“If it wasn’t for amazing families then there wouldn’t be the classes.”
That is such a fitting way to look at it.
Ali leads the business, but the community has helped build it.
Watch the Full Interview
Ali’s story is a brilliant reminder that the first year does not need to look impressive from the outside to be working.
You can start with two children.
You can learn Instagram from scratch.
You can panic about bookings.
You can wonder whether everybody else is doing better.
And still be building something strong.
👉 Watch Ali’s full finalist interview here.
If you are in that early stage yourself, The Class Business Live on Saturday 10 October is exactly the kind of room you need to be in.
It is a full day built around the conversations that are hardest to have when you are running a business alone: what is working, what is not, what other providers have learned and what your next move could look like. We’ll have finalists, judges, sponsors, speakers, mastermind discussions and plenty of opportunity to connect before the Awards celebrations begin that evening.
Come for the ideas, stay for the conversations, and leave with a much bigger sense of what is possible for your business.
👉 Join us at The Class Business Live and The Class Business Awards.
