Community First, Growth Second: How Becci Jones Built Lullababy Lincoln & West Lindsey
When people talk about fast business growth, they often jump straight to the numbers.
Bookings. Revenue. Sell-outs. Retention.
But when I spoke to Becci Jones, owner of Lullababy Lincoln & West Lindsey, what stood out was that the numbers were never really the starting point.
The starting point was people.
Becci launched in October 2024 and, within her first 16 months, had generated around 2,000 bookings and welcomed approximately 850 families. Her first Halloween launch sold out 80 spaces, special sessions have continued to sell strongly and she has built a WhatsApp community of around 300 mums.
Those figures are impressive, especially for a business that was effectively starting again in a new local area, but they make far more sense when you hear what Becci did before she ever opened the doors.
She Didn’t Just Launch. She Built Trust First
Becci bought the business in August and deliberately waited until October to launch.
That time mattered.
She was out with leaflets, approaching parents, asking friends to share, building visibility on social media and getting used to becoming the face of the brand.
“I was going out with leaflets, tracking people down in car parks, handing them out and taking them everywhere.”
It is not glamorous, but it worked.
Before Becci expected people to trust her with an important part of their parenting journey, she gave them time to see her, recognise her and understand what Lullababy was about.
That visibility paid off when the first Halloween sessions launched.
Four classes. Eighty spaces. Sold out.
Becci explains it simply:
“I think just building that awareness beforehand so that then you can create that urgency.”
That first launch created momentum, but more importantly, it created belief. Families had seen the business before the booking link appeared, so it did not feel like something brand new landing out of nowhere.
There are a few practical lessons in that for any new class business:
- Give yourself enough lead-in time before launch
- Build recognition before asking people to buy
- Let people see the person behind the business
- Use waitlists and urgency once demand begins to build
The launch may happen on one day. The trust behind it starts much earlier.
The Real Growth Happened After Class
Becci’s business numbers tell one story.
Her WhatsApp groups tell another.
Every new class group gets its own chat, helping parents stay connected after the session ends. There is also a wider Lullababy community group with around 300 mums in it.
Sometimes there are a hundred messages in a day. Sometimes just a handful.
Parents ask questions, recommend services, share contact details and support each other through all the strange, brilliant and exhausting parts of early parenthood.
For Becci, this is not a marketing tactic added onto the side of the business.
It is the business.
“For me, that is the best part of what I’ve built, that community.”
She sees groups of mums who met through Lullababy going to the gym together, heading to the cinema, meeting for tea and staying connected beyond their original class.
That is why community creates retention in a way a clever sales funnel never can.
People are not simply booking another class. They are staying with their people.
Sometimes Parents Come for Something Completely Different
When Becci asks people why they have joined baby massage, the answer is often not what you might expect.
“I ask everybody that starts, why are you here? So that’s baby massage class and nearly everybody says just to get out and meet people with a baby of a similar age.”
Yes, the babies are learning.
Becci builds development science into her sessions and explains why activities support a baby’s brain, movement and communication.
But the person who often needs the class just as much is the parent sitting beside them.
Becci wants mums to leave understanding that the small things they are already doing matter.
That can reduce some of the pressure parents place on themselves and give them more confidence in everyday life.
Her priorities are clear:
- Create genuine friendships and connection
- Give parents practical knowledge they can actually use
- Reduce some of the guilt around “doing enough”
- Help parents trust themselves and their instincts
- Make class feel like a safe place rather than another source of pressure
That philosophy comes directly from Becci’s own parenting experience.
She had strong family support, but still remembers feeling lost and wondering where she fitted. Later, she found close friendships through a group she attended herself and realised how transformative that sense of belonging could be.
She wanted to create the same thing for other parents.
Growth Has Opened Up a Bigger Mission
The next stage of Becci’s work takes that support beyond the Lullababy classroom.
She has now qualified as a doula and is developing Beyond Birth with Becci, including one-to-one and online group support around the fourth trimester, feeding, sleep and early brain development.
Originally, the doula qualification was simply about becoming better informed for the families she already worked with.
Then Becci saw the opportunity to do more.
Her own experience after birth also drives that passion. Despite having significant professional knowledge from her previous work in schools and children’s services, she still remembers being sent home and questioning herself in the middle of the night.
“Even with all my knowledge and experience, I still struggled. I still questioning myself. 3am, can I do this?”
That is exactly why her work is evolving.
She wants parents to have somewhere to turn before those doubts become overwhelming.
Looking Back Can Be Part of Moving Forward
Becci is a double finalist in The Class Business Awards 2026 for New Business of the Year, sponsored by Popolo Ceramico, and Business Growth of the Year.
Interestingly, entering the Awards forced her to look properly at the numbers for the first time.
She laughs that figures are not naturally her thing, but seeing the scale of what she had achieved gave her a new perspective.
“It was a really good reflective piece of work for me as well because I’d never really looked at my figures.”
Around 2,000 bookings.
Approximately 850 families.
A 300-person WhatsApp community.
And all within those first 16 months.
Those numbers matter, but what makes them powerful is the story underneath them.
Becci did not chase growth and accidentally create a community.
She created community, and growth followed.
Watch the Full Interview
Becci’s story is a brilliant example of what can happen when you stop seeing your class as the whole product.
The real experience includes the trust you build before someone books, the friendships that form around the session and the way people feel once they leave.
That is where loyalty lives.
👉 Watch Becci’s full finalist interview here.
And if conversations like this are exactly what you want more of, The Class Business Live on Saturday 10 October is where we take them off the screen and into the room.
We’ll be bringing together finalists, judges, sponsors and class business owners at the National Conference Centre in Solihull for a full day of speakers, mastermind discussions, practical ideas and sector connection before The Class Business Awards & Afterparty that evening.
Come for the conversations that help you grow your business. Stay to celebrate the people building this sector.
👉 Secure your place for The Class Business Live and Awards.
