Scale Without Losing the Joy: How Anna Coggan Grew Caterpillar Music Newark
There is a version of business growth that says the founder should eventually stop delivering.
Build the team. Step back from the classes. Move into strategy. Let other people take over the work you once did yourself.
For some business owners, that is exactly the right move.
For Anna Coggan, it is not.
Over 12 years, Anna has grown Caterpillar Music Newark from six classes in six venues to around 40 sessions a week, a team of five and between 400 and 500 children and adults reached every week.
She has expanded into nurseries, schools, care homes and a new postcode area, but she still personally delivers around 18 sessions.
“I love it. That’s what I do it for.”
Anna’s story is a brilliant reminder that scaling does not have to mean removing yourself from the part of the business you love. It can mean building enough support around you to create more choice.
Rebuilding After Teacher Burnout
Anna had always wanted to be a primary school teacher.
As a child, she helped younger pupils at playtime. At 15, she returned to a primary school for work experience. Today, she delivers Caterpillar Music sessions in that same classroom.
But her original teaching career ended painfully.
Anna was signed off work with stress and knew she could no longer cope with life in the classroom, even though she still desperately wanted to work with children.
Caterpillar Music gave her another route.
The classes combine nursery rhymes, puppets, musical instruments, action songs and movement. Each session follows a familiar structure so children feel secure, while the weekly themes and activities keep it fresh.
Anna had not stopped being a teacher.
She had found a way to keep the part she loved and leave behind the part that had become unsustainable.
Starting With Too Much Too Soon
Anna launched with six classes in six separate venues.
Looking back, she would not recommend it.
She would have started with three, built demand and then added a second session in successful locations.
Like many new providers, Anna assumed that opening the doors would be enough to fill the room.
“It doesn’t happen.”
Some classes continued with only two or three families, regardless of how much effort she put into them.
As nursery inquiries began increasing, Anna gradually replaced weaker community sessions with reliable nursery work. That allowed her to maintain her income while protecting more time for the community classes she enjoyed most.
The change was gradual rather than dramatic, but it made the timetable stronger.
The COVID Lessons That Changed the Business
Before COVID, Anna offered a large amount of pay-as-you-go booking because her parent instinct told her that flexibility was what families wanted.
When restrictions limited class sizes, customers had to book and pay for a full term.
The result surprised her.
Classes filled and stayed full.
The shift also taught Anna to market continuously rather than waiting until a space appeared.
Her approach now includes:
- Promoting classes even when they are full
- Building waiting lists in advance
- Asking families to commit for a term
- Staying visible between booking periods
- Making it easier to fill spaces quickly
COVID also pushed Anna in front of the camera.
Before that, she would never have considered going live. Now she is much more comfortable showing up without needing everything to look perfectly polished.
Those changes created a more stable foundation for the next stage of growth.
Learning to Build the Right Team
Anna delivered alone for the first three or four years.
The decision to recruit came as nursery demand grew. She wanted somebody else to deliver those sessions so she could create more community classes.
Her first team member was a parent from the classes and another former teacher.
After COVID, Anna had to rebuild the team, and she is now an employer of five.
That brought a completely new learning curve.
“You just think you’ve cracked certain things, and then you become a manager and an employer, and you have a whole new set of skills to learn.”
Anna is now much clearer about who the business needs. A candidate might be brilliant, but that does not automatically make them right for her team.
They need to:
- Fit the existing culture
- Represent the brand with confidence
- Feel comfortable communicating openly
- Understand the relationships behind the classes
- Work in a way that feels natural to Anna and the wider team
She has also made recruitment more personal. Applicants can WhatsApp or call before completing the process, ask questions and understand the opportunity properly.
Recruitment is still not easy, but Anna knows far more clearly what she is looking for.
Growth That Reaches Across Generations
Caterpillar Music Newark now delivers seven intergenerational sessions in care homes every week.
Anna began with one home 10 years ago and still works there today. Some residents have been part of the sessions throughout that entire decade.
One young boy formed a particularly close friendship with a resident. They talk every week, exchange drawings and cards, and have built a relationship that exists beyond the activity itself.
For residents whose children and grandchildren live far away, those regular connections can be incredibly meaningful.
Young children also bring a wonderful openness to the sessions. They do not worry if somebody living with dementia asks the same question repeatedly. They simply answer it again.
That is the kind of impact that cannot be measured through attendance figures alone.
Scaling With More Choice
Anna is now expanding into a new postcode area and hopes to add another eight sessions by the end of the year.
She still teaches most days, manages the team and completes business work in the evenings.
It is busy, but it feels different from the pressure she experienced in teaching.
She is building something for herself, her team and the families she supports.
The team has also given her something she did not have before: the ability to step away when she chooses.
Anna recently took a full week off while the sessions continued without her.
She is not ready to stop teaching, but she no longer has to carry every class alone.
That is what scaling looks like for her.
Not leaving the work behind.
Creating enough structure, support and freedom to keep doing it on her own terms.
Watch the Full Interview
Anna Coggan’s journey shows that business growth does not have to follow one fixed blueprint.
You can build a team, increase your reach and create a business that functions without you while still protecting the part that made you start in the first place.
Anna Coggan is a finalist for Scaling Business of the Year in The Class Business Awards 2026.
👉 Watch Anna’s full interview here.
And we are only just getting started.
Join us on Saturday 10 October 2026 at the National Conference Centre in Solihull for The Class Business Live, where finalists, judges and sponsors will come together for a packed day of practical ideas, honest conversations and brilliant sector connection.
Then, from 6:00pm, it is time to get dressed up and celebrate properly at The Class Business Awards & Afterparty.
