The Idea That Changed Everything: How Vicky Pennington Found the Niche That Helped Let’s Glow Sensory Scale
There is a lot of pressure when you start a business to have the perfect idea from day one.
The right name. The right offer. The right branding. The right niche.
But Vicky Pennington’s story is a brilliant reminder that sometimes the strongest businesses are not born fully formed. They are shaped by paying attention to what customers respond to, being willing to change direction and having the confidence to lean into the thing that makes you different.
Vicky is the founder of Let’s Glow Sensory and a finalist for Scaling Business of the Year at The Class Business Awards 2026. Today, the business has five franchisees and an ambition to take its immersive glow sensory classes across the UK.
But that was not where the story started.
Leaving The Career She Thought She Would Always Have
Vicky had wanted to be a teacher since she was a child.
“I don’t know anything else I’ve wanted to be really.”
She eventually became an early-years teacher and initially threw herself completely into the profession. But over time, the reality began to look very different from the career she had imagined.
The workload was becoming increasingly difficult, and after having her first daughter, her priorities shifted too.
She wanted to be there for school runs, family time and the everyday moments she knew teaching would make difficult.
“It was absolutely the system.”
Lockdown eventually gave Vicky the space to begin creating an exit plan. Pregnant with her second daughter and working from home, she began training, planning classes and thinking seriously about how her early-years experience could translate into a business of her own.
The First Business Wasn’t Let’s Glow Sensory
One of the most interesting things about Vicky’s journey is that the original concept looked completely different.
The business was going to be called Strong Foundations and focus more broadly on supporting preschool development.
That idea came naturally from her teaching background. During lockdown she had found herself helping parents understand how to support their children, and she could see an opportunity to build classes around that expertise.
Then she actually started delivering.
Six months in, something happened that shifted the direction of the whole business.
Vicky turned the lights out during one of her baby sessions and introduced the glow sensory activities.
“I saw the faces light up.”
The reaction from the babies and parents was different.
More importantly, Vicky felt different delivering it.
She could see the magic in the experience and realised she had found something that could make her stand out in an already busy baby-class market.
Your Customers Can Show You Your Niche
Vicky is open about the fact that retention in the early version of the business was not as strong as she wanted.
Families were booking, particularly because classes were reopening after lockdown, but she knew that initial demand alone would not build a sustainable business.
There were already brilliant, established providers around her.
She needed a reason for families to choose Let’s Glow.
The glow concept gave her that.
Vicky responded by:
- Changing the business name
- Making glow sensory the heart of the offer
- Creating a more distinctive class experience
- Developing a recognisable visual identity
- Positioning the business away from competing purely on price
“That is what is going to make me stand out in this busy crowded market.”
And it worked.
That decision became the turning point from running another baby class to building a brand that could eventually be replicated.
Building A Brand People Could Recognise Instantly
Once Vicky had the niche, she became much more intentional about how the business looked and felt.
She noticed that many baby-class brands used bright, colourful visual identities. Rather than following the same route, she deliberately moved Let’s Glow Sensory in another direction.
Dark backgrounds.
Silver.
Purples.
A more premium feel that reflected what happened when the lights went down.
“I wanted something where if someone saw a photograph of a class that we did, they knew instantly it was us.”
That is such an important point when thinking about scale.
Before somebody else can deliver your brand, you need to understand what makes it recognisably yours.
For Let’s Glow Sensory, the core foundations included:
- A signature visual experience
- A clear early-years purpose behind the sensory activities
- Consistent branding and tone of voice
- A distinctive position in the local market
- An experience franchisees could reproduce in their own areas
Vicky admits she did not understand all of that when she first started.
She learned it by doing.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes and I’ve just kept adapting each time.”
From Founder-Led Business To Franchise Network
Vicky always had a clear long-term ambition once she decided to franchise.
“I want Let’s Glow Sensory to be delivered across the UK.”
Today, there are five franchisees, mainly across Lancashire and the North West, and nearly all of them come from teaching or early-years backgrounds.
Several were customers first.
They had attended classes with their own children, seen the experience in action and understood the impact before ever considering running it as a business themselves.
That gives Vicky something incredibly valuable when scaling.
Her franchisees already believe in the product.
They understand the families.
And they bring their own expertise into the network, including early years and SEN experience.
The next stage is not simply about adding more territories. It is about protecting the experience while allowing the team to grow around it.
Scaling The Life She Wanted Too
There is another side to this growth story that matters just as much.
Vicky now has three daughters aged seven, five and two.
Her original reason for leaving teaching was not simply to become a business owner.
It was flexibility.
Her goal was to be able to pick Hallie up from school and be there for the moments she felt she would miss if she stayed in teaching.
She has achieved it.
“Success to me isn’t necessarily the income. It’s actually having flexibility with my daughters.”
That does not mean running the business has been easy.
There have been late nights, early starts and plenty of juggling. Vicky was building the franchise model while her youngest daughter was still tiny, often joining calls with her alongside her.
But the difficult work is creating the outcome she originally wanted.
That is an important distinction.
Scaling is not always about creating the biggest possible business.
Sometimes it is about building something large enough and strong enough to support the life you wanted the business to create in the first place.
Learning Not To Do Everything Alone
One lesson Vicky has taken particularly seriously during the franchising stage is the importance of getting support.
When she first started, she made mistakes and learned as she went.
When other people were preparing to invest in her franchise, she did not want to take the same approach.
She invested in expertise and made sure the model was properly developed.
Her advice now is to learn from people who have already made the mistakes you are trying to avoid.
“You don’t have to do it on your own.”
That might mean paid expertise, but it can also mean podcasts, webinars, networking and learning from other business owners.
Scaling requires the founder to stop being the only source of answers.
The Real Lesson Behind The Glow
Vicky’s story is not really about UV equipment.
It is about listening closely enough to realise when the market is showing you something.
The original business idea changed.
The name changed.
The positioning changed.
The experience became more distinctive.
And that willingness to adapt created something Vicky eventually felt confident enough to hand to other business owners.
Today, Let’s Glow Sensory is five franchisees into a much bigger vision.
And the business she once started because she wanted to escape an unsustainable working life is now helping other women create greater flexibility too.
That feels like scaling with a purpose behind it.
Watch the Full Interview
In our full conversation, Vicky shares the reality of leaving teaching, how the Let’s Glow Sensory concept evolved, why finding a niche transformed the business and what she has learned from taking the leap into franchising.
👉 Watch Vicky’s full finalist interview here.
If scaling is something you are thinking about in your own business, The Class Business Live on Saturday 10 October 2026 is a chance to get into a room with people at every stage of that journey. We’ll be talking growth, franchising, leadership, positioning and the practical decisions behind building something that can expand beyond you.
The daytime event runs from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the National Conference Centre in Solihull, before The Class Business Awards & Afterparty begins at 6:00pm. Buy your tickets for the day here.
