In this episode, Paul Dio sits down with Jason Bagley, founder of Growth Experts, joining all the way from Cape Town, South Africa. Jason's story is a study in what happens when a marketer stops selling deliverables and starts selling outcomes. He started as a software developer, moved into web design at the exact moment Squarespace and Wix turned it into a race to the bottom, pivoted to a newsletter-only business, sold that during COVID, and eventually landed on the model he's running today — an all-you-can-eat growth marketing agency where the team doesn't just write the thing, they get the thing live.

The heart of the conversation is a single insight Jason had with his very first Copy Check client. He'd written a newsletter and expected feedback on the copy. What he got back was a question about MailChimp. That's when the penny dropped. Clients don't want the newsletter written. They want the newsletter sent. They want the landing page built and live. They want the LinkedIn post published. Jason built Growth Experts around that reframe and it's changed how his agency shows up for every client since.

Jason and Paul dig into what actually makes a newsletter worth reading in 2026 (spoiler — content, not cadence), how AI is changing what a small team can ship, and why he keeps telling his team to stop asking for sign-off on the work that isn't mission critical. He also gets honest about the mid-growth phase of his own business — the part nobody puts on LinkedIn — where the challenges get harder even as the numbers get better.

The episode closes on attention and legacy. Jason's read on where audience attention is moving is simple. It's moving toward honest people doing real things and showing the mistakes. And his legacy is smaller and more personal than most guests give — his wife first, his kids second because of that, and the entrepreneurs he mentors through EO, planting seeds that go on to change worlds he'll never see.

00:00 — Welcome from Cape Town

00:45 — Software developer to web design agency

02:00 — The race to the bottom in websites

02:45 — Pivoting to newsletters only

03:30 — Building and selling Firing Squad

04:30 — Launching Copy Check with zero clients

05:30 — The MailChimp question that changed everything

06:30 — Building Growth Experts around outcomes not deliverables

07:45 — Early clients and the cold email skill

09:00 — What actually makes a newsletter worth reading

10:30 — The anchor client from the IT retailer

12:00 — What separates one agency from another in a crowded market

13:00 — High-agency teams and the sign-off tax

14:45 — Latency between idea and execution

16:00 — Building things again thanks to AI

17:00 — Why leaders have to show AI steps first

18:00 — Where attention is moving in a crowded market

19:30 — Video, honesty, and being over the weekly hype cycle

21:00 — The mid-growth phase nobody puts on LinkedIn

22:30 — Leading a team without micromanaging

23:30 — Legacy starts with his wife

24:30 — Mentoring through EO and planting seeds

25:30 — Where to find Jason

Discover how Jason and his team at Growth Experts run an all-you-can-eat growth marketing agency built on a simple idea — clients don't want the newsletter written, they want it sent, live, published, and tracked: www.growthexperts.co

Legacy Podcast: For more information about the Legacy Podcast and its co-hosts, visit https://businesslegacypodcast.com

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For more information: Visit https://businesslegacypodcast.com to access the show notes and additional resources on the episode.