Welcome to the
Virtual Assistant Lead Network
Whether you’re a VA or OBM looking for trusted, vetted opportunities – or a business owner seeking to be better supported in your business – you’ve landed on a pretty special corner of the internet.
Hi! We are your people.
This is a space built by real VAs and designed for real businesses, powered by coffee (of course! lots of coffee), and the belief that when you connect the right minds, great things happen.
What started as a humble hidden job list (and slightly obsessive love of automation) is now Australia’s go-to space for remote online support done right.
You are in the right place if you are:
You're a busy business owner with heaps on your plate:
⌯⌲ Seeking a free service to help you define your role or project requirements.
⌯⌲ Ready to list your role, project or task so we can share it with the best VAs in Australia.
⌯⌲ Interested in an optional vetting service where we will manage all aspects of hiring to deliver a shortlist of standout candidates.
You’re a virtual assistant or online business manager…
⌯⌲ Seeking curated job leads, personally screened by our team to expand scope, educate clients and set sustainable rates.
⌯⌲ Looking for niche training webinars, templates, tools and community.
⌯⌲ Interested in access to walk-in tech troubleshooting sessions to solve the tech hurdles holding you (or your clients) back.
This isn’t your average jobs board.
The Virtual Assistant Lead Network has been designed and built to efficiently bridge the gap between overworked business owners and a tech-savvy and flexible workforce of remote business services.
Our remote jobs board for Australian contractors and remote employees has evolved substantially, building on the needs of people just like you.
We’ve spent hours mulling over your questions, like:
How can I quickly identify opportunities that best fit my niche?
How can I quickly identify the best applicants?
How do I market the value of what I deliver?
How do I determine the rate of a great VA?
(On that note, our Rates Report is updated annually, and yes, it’s full of tangible intel).
Meet our founder,
Fiona Campbell
The Virtual Assistant Lead Network was founded by Fiona Campbell in 2020 (after the idea was sparked in November of 2019)... but the real seed was planted almost a decade earlier.
After a successful career as a corporate executive assistant, Fiona launched her own VA business, Thought Penny, in 2013. Working from her lounge room with a newborn by her side, she quickly built a reputation for her tech know-how and ability to streamline even the messiest workflow.
Within a year, she was fully booked – and turning away clients.
Fiona was seeing both sides of the industry: the business owners, desperate for reliable support but frustrated by trial-and-error hiring, and sifting through thousands of unsuitable applications; and the VAs and OBMs, skilled and hardworking but needing a steady source of quality job and client leads.
Instead of keeping the overflow for Thought Penny, or turning future-focused business owners away, Fiona began privately referring work to her growing database of trusted Australian VAs and OBMs. Those connections grew into collaborations, and those collaborations grew into a national network - now well-known as the Virtual Assistant Lead Network.
By late 2019, Fiona was informally sharing overflow work with trusted Australian VAs – the seed of what would become the Virtual Assistant Lead Network. The platform was well-placed for the industry boom that followed when the pandemic made remote work a global necessity in March 2020.
It quickly became clear that the industry needed something bigger than Fiona’s personal referrals shared via the Virtual Assistant Lead Network’s hidden website.
In January 2021, Fiona officially launched the first public version of the VA and OBM industry’s most trusted job board, and the Virtual Assistant Lead Network was introduced to the world.
Today, the Virtual Assistant Lead Network connects Australian VAs and OBMs with meaningful opportunities, while helping business owners find support they can truly rely on.
Why business owners love us.
⌯⌲ No fees to list or hire
⌯⌲ Find your ideal VA or OBM
⌯⌲ Free support to define your role or project
⌯⌲ Engage your chosen applicants directly
⌯⌲ Pay only for the work completed or time worked
⌯⌲ List single tasks, projects or ongoing roles
⌯⌲ Scrap employment overheads
⌯⌲ Hire without the overwhelm
⌯⌲ Learn how to delegate effectively
⌯⌲ Work with people who have a business mindset
No agency fees. No commissions. No ghosting. No trawling Facebook groups at 10 pm hoping to find someone who is “good with Canva.”
Here, you’ll find skilled professionals with the right mix of initiative and experience – ready to help you focus on what you love by doing the work you don’t have time for.
Why VAs and OBMs love us.
⌯⌲ Access hundreds of vetted job leads - intentions, scope, and budget are qualified every time
⌯⌲ Be part of a trusted industry network advocating for fair rates and clear expectations
⌯⌲ Get training, templates, resources and tools created by VAs for VAs
⌯⌲ Join monthly video calls to troubleshoot your (and your clients!) tech hurdles
⌯⌲ Keep 100% of your earnings. Your work, your way
⌯⌲ We upsell on your behalf - expanding scope and rates with clients before you start the conversation
⌯⌲ Unmatched level of detail and lead insights - stops you wasting time pitching for work that is not the perfect-fit for your business
⌯⌲ Save on tools, training and services through our negotiated Member Deals
No agency fees. No commissions. No gatekeeping. No trawling Facebook groups at 10 pm hoping to find your next role.
Just genuine leads that are vetted by us, and peace of mind knowing you are part of a network run by VAs for VAs.
Timeline
✎﹏ 2013
Fiona Campbell left corporate life to freelance as a virtual assistant, working around the needs of a growing family. With just her laptop and lounge room as her office, she offered tech-savvy executive assistant services as Thought Penny – including inbox and diary management, workflow systems, process design, and business automation.
Things snowballed fast. By the end of the year, she was fully booked and had to turn away new clients. The first lesson? Even a single VA can make a huge impact.
Ask Valhow to grow
your business!
✎﹏ 2018
Fiona engaged her first subcontractor to cover her maternity leave, who became a long-term member of the Thought Penny team.
Word-of-mouth referrals continued to grow, and it became clear that the business could support more clients in a micro-agency model without compromising quality.
✎﹏ 2019
By now, Thought Penny comprised specialised admin personnel, automation and design experts, as well as web developers. Fiona remained committed to Australian-based talent to ensure quality service and to support the local VA industry. In November, Fiona realised there was an opportunity to connect overflow work with other Australian VAs. This led to the first iteration of what would become the Virtual Assistant Lead Network.
Our first lead was posted on24 Feb 2020:
'Website Development Assistant'
✎﹏ 2020
In January, months before COVID changed the world, the doors were opened exclusively to Fiona’s private network. The hidden jobs board was initially free and shared excess client leads from Thought Penny. Overwhelming positive feedback from VAs and VA Seekers and a significant increase in word-of-mouth referrals meant it was time to establish structure for a sustainable service.
✎﹏ 2021
We transformed our scrappy startup platform into a public jobs board to connect businesses globally with virtual assistants and OBMs based in Australia.
The first paid membership version of the Virtual Assistant Lead Network came into effect, allowing the team to reinvest revenue to attract more leads, grow and build more resources and training to better support members.
During this time, Fiona also relocated her family to Katherine (NT), proving that location is no barrier to running a thriving national business.
✎﹏ 2022
VALN continued to release a range of downloadable resources and training programs to support members and prove it was more than simply a job leads platform.
Tech Time (a recurring virtual support session) was launched to build tech confidence and troubleshoot tech issues.
By now, the network had its own identity and needed a mascot. “Val” the witty and relatable virtual assistant was introduced and has become the face of the brand.
With a growing audience of VAs, OBMs and VA Seekers, we were compelled to launch the Australian VA & OBM Industry Rates Survey to gather real data and create the first edition of the annual Australian VA & OBM Rates Report – the first and only national annual report of its kind for the Australian VA & OBM industry, providing benchmarks and industry insights.
✎﹏ 2023 & 2024
2023 brought industry recognition: Fiona won the Agility Connector Award at the Australian Assembly of Administrators (AAA) Awards.
Editions 2 and 3 of the Australian VA & OBM Rates Report were published across 2023 and 2024, holding their place as the only national annual reports of their kind.
The ecosystem expanded. The Coach, Mentor & Trainer Directory launched as a vetted public list of professionals supporting Australian VAs and OBMs. Member discounts negotiated since launch were collated into the dedicated Member Deals resource. And a new blog, Outsourcing Insights, joined the publishing mix to help VA Seekers get the most out of virtual support.
By 2024, collaborations with other VA educators were diversifying skills and lead variety. Across the two years, more than 200 vetted opportunities were shared with members.
✎﹏ 2025 & Beyond
Today, the Virtual Assistant Lead Network supports over 350 paying Australian VA and OBM members, sharing 500+ vetted job opportunities and $20,000+ worth of training and resources since launch.
While our growing community of VAs and OBMs has tipped over 2,500 through our mailing list and socials, we still remember getting excited when we hit 100 followers on Instagram (that’s a lot of people if you get them in a room!)
Recognition is catching up with the work, with Fiona earning more accolades, such as being named one of the Inside Small Business 'Top 50 Small Business Leaders' in 2025. The media presence of the Virtual Assistant Lead Network keeps growing - see us in action.
From a lounge room in 2013 to Australia’s go-to space for remote online support done right, we’re running on the power of a virtual team. And we’re just getting started...
As Featured In:
SOME PEOPLE CALL US MATCH-MAKERS 🫶
We help you find the perfect match for your business.
What business owners are saying:
What VAs and OBMs are saying:
Since joining the Network, I have had my inbox filled with new opportunities every week. Something else that is a bonus is the support that Fiona and her team give you along the way.
I am a member of some other lead networks, but I can honestly say that the caliber of the roles I have seen through the VA Lead Network is more of a perfect fit for me.
