What began as a tipsy conversation between two new mothers has blossomed into a multi-million pound enterprise, a journey marked by incredible success and profound personal loss.
A Fateful Meeting and a Drunken Brainstorm
While on maternity leave and spending time with her child at a local swimming pool in Cheshire, Caroline Gowing, 52, met a woman who would fundamentally alter the course of her life. Vicky Matthews was also there swimming with her own child during her maternity leave.
Both in their 30s at the time, the pair quickly became close friends. They discovered they had much in common, including a shared tendency to be the 'organisers' within their social circles. They soon lamented how their considerable skills were not being fully utilised in the workplace, especially as the desire for flexibility often felt like a 'dirty word' for working mothers.
The seed of a business idea was planted. Then, on a drunken New Year's Eve, the plotting began in earnest. Fresh into 2009 – with Caroline newly out of a six-month contract and Vicky on the verge of taking voluntary redundancy – they began serious research. This groundwork would lead to the creation of their award-winning virtual assistant company, Pink Spaghetti.
'We had the same vision,' Caroline recalls. With their goal set, they each invested a modest £2,000 to cover initial website and logo costs, taking no loans or grants. The business was launched humbly, operating from a play barn with the founders answering emails on their personal phones.
Playing to Strengths and Scaling Success
'We wanted to be there to bring up our children, but we're also really capable people who wanted a career and starting a business gave us that opportunity,' Caroline explains.
As Pink Spaghetti grew, they consulted a business coach who identified their contrasting working styles. Vicky thrived on networking, marketing, and the people-oriented side, while Caroline was more comfortable with spreadsheets, a style the coach humorously called being a 'mushroom'.
This revelation was a turning point. They abandoned their previous approach of sharing all tasks and instead divided duties according to their strengths. Once they started playing to these individual skills, the business truly took off.
This philosophy of leveraging complementary skills became a cornerstone of their franchise model. Today, the business is worth £3 million and boasts 50 franchises across the UK. Alongside their extreme effort, Caroline acknowledges that a degree of 'luck' also contributed to their success.
A Devastating Loss and a New Path Forward
Tragically, in 2023, Vicky died from a brain tumour. The lead-up was sudden; while on holiday together, Vicky began struggling to speak. A trip to A&E, initially fearing a stroke, led to the devastating diagnosis of brain cancer. She passed away less than two years later.
'It has been the biggest challenge of my life,' Caroline says. She was confronted not only with profound personal grief but also with the daunting task of becoming the public face of the company, stepping into the roles where Vicky had excelled.
As a self-professed photo-hater, Caroline recognised she needed to embrace this change for the business to survive. 'The face of the brand was Vicky. To come out of that in grief has been hard. But, I have developed as a person, I look at things differently, I answer things differently,' she reflects.
The blending of their personal and professional lives made the loss even more acute. 'We walked a lot to talk about business. I'd talk to her about my husband, my family, and what's going on. Everything was turned upside down.'
Caroline admits she would never have started the business alone. Three months after Vicky's death, she contemplated giving up entirely. However, a sense of legacy, responsibility to staff and to Vicky, and financial realities kept her going.
'I can't afford to give up work. And I love doing this, so if I give it up, what do I do?' Caroline remembers thinking. 'I'm a business owner through and through nowadays, so the thought of going and working for someone else... I don't know if I could do that.' She also wisely believes it's never prudent to make major decisions while in a state of grief.
She is now relieved she persevered. The business continues to grow, a testament to their original partnership and her resilience. Their model, built on the principle of allowing people to focus on what they are good at, continues to drive both Pink Spaghetti and the small businesses it supports forward.
