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Screw The Clout

Justin McClure on Viral Fame, Storytelling, Monetization & Why Most Creators Quit Too Early

Screw The Clout

Bleav and Steve Stanulis

Spill The Tea, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Tv & Film, Gangs Of New York, Celebrity, Steve Stanulis, Personal Stories, After Shows, The Replacements

5.0 • 996 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Screw the Clout, Justin McClure breaks down the real reasons creators fail, the patience required to win long-term, and why chasing AdSense is a losing strategy. Justin shares hard-earned lessons on storytelling, long-form vs short-form content, building authentic connection, and monetizing through real products—not vanity metrics. We also dive into: Why most creators quit right before their breakthrough The truth about YouTube growth and patience Long-form storytelling vs short-form content How creators should think about monetization from day one Why authenticity matters more than algorithms The real impact of AI on creators and influencers Where the biggest untapped opportunities still exist (e-commerce) If you’re serious about building a sustainable creator business—not just chasing views—this conversation cuts through the noise.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to another episode of Screw the Cloud.

0:02.0

My name is Steve Sanuos, and today we have another amazing guest.

0:06.0

I'd like to thank everybody out there for making our podcast a top five podcast, and it's not because of my voice.

0:12.6

It's guys like this gentleman we have today.

0:16.4

Today, this gentleman is not only to not only did he start a mass of YouTube empire, but without

0:26.2

Hollywood, without gatekeepers, and he just took it and he fucking ran.

0:31.9

And if I could say, and we just said this all fine, what screw the cloud is about and the epitome of the perfect guest we have right now,

0:41.4

Justin McClaugh, how you doing?

0:43.8

That's a good intro, but we haven't lived up to it yet, so let's see if I can live up to it.

0:47.7

You're being a little modest.

0:49.0

You're being a little modest.

0:51.1

Thank you so much for coming on.

0:52.6

I got so much to ask you.

0:54.0

I want to kind of go all over the map.

0:56.4

But let's take it back to, and again, I did a lot of research on you.

1:01.8

And I know at some point in time, a little bit down and out, right?

1:05.4

And you had some situations.

1:07.5

Like a lot of us, some drinking issues, some womanizing, you know, a lot of us, which most people

1:14.8

get into this spin cycle and they can't get out of, so to speak. So what does that look for you

1:22.7

and what is your breaking point with all this, with the drinking and how does that start? You know, was I down and out?

1:31.1

I mean, I love womanizing. I love drinking when it was good. And then it got to, well, you know,

1:39.1

the truth is this is that I was living in New York City and there was one point in my life, 13 years, I'm 13 years sober, so let's go back 13 years ago. Congratulations, by the way. Thank you. And that week, I said, you know what? I've been chasing this girl in New York forever, this Puerto Rican who was beautiful. I'm like, if I could only go out with her, would life be great? I mean, that's what I need in

...

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