I've been at this for over a year now, and I've just passed 2,400 followers. I still remember making my first purchase with money I earned here, it was a shrimp burrito. Nothing's ever tasted so good, let me tell you. Hard work and hunger are the best spices.
I've come a long way since then, in large part by busting my ass, putting out a full 4 articles/stories/videos per day. That's exhausting but I'm motivated by the desire to escape the rat race and support myself by doing what I love, entertaining all you beauties.
I've worked out that if I average $20 per post and keep doing 4 per day, that's $40 per day (since half goes into steem power) which is about what I'd be making if I worked retail. That's $280 per week, $1120 per month. Let's take off $20 to account for Coinbase transfer fees.
So now I have $1,100 per month, assuming SBD is at 1:1 with USD (it's at .94 right now). Not too shabby! I can live on that. Subtract $550 for rent and utilities, $120 for car insurance, $125 for student loan payments, $250 for food (incl. cat food), $50 for games to make VR Let's Play videos of, and what's left? A humble fiver. Five big, fat dollars. Still, this level of income is entirely adequate for my needs.
I mean, I never asked for more than the ability to support myself and my cat so I can write. I don't write in order to live, I live in order to write. If I make a reliable $20 per post, then I'm making enough to live comfortably while also putting away 50% of my earnings as savings.
That's quite good! Most people don't sock away 50% of their paycheck, at least that I know of. But then I've been broke a long time and have started saving relatively late in life, so I need to make up for lost time if I'm ever going to buy a house, or retire for that matter.
What I need to keep doing this full time as my main focus is to continue averaging $20 per post. If you see some of my recent posts that haven't paid out yet aren't at or above $20 and you have the voting power to spare, it would help me out big time if you'd get it up to where it needs to be.
At the same time I'm well aware people who started later than I did are struggling even to make burrito money from Steemit. Trust me, I know what that's like, I was there too not so long ago.
I've recently helped 
I'm doing about as much as I can for other Steemians. If there's more I could be doing that I don't know about, by all means, let me know. Providing I can make as much as I need to pay my bills on here, I can definitely spare the time and energy to go the extra mile for the community.
That's my thinly veiled "pls gibe monies" appeal. Sorry about that. Either way, expect the content to keep coming and please accept my fullest appreciation for the support you've given me thus far.