The vote of a minnow allocates very, very little amounts from the reward pool, usually the third digit after the point, something like 0.001 USD. So 40 votes will take out from a minnow's account around 0.04/day.

Of course, one should make sure he or she can generate at least 0.04 USD/day in order to be profitable. Or 1.2 USD / month.

The good news is that potential winning doubles as well. Right now the daily reward pool sits at around $3,400/day (43,000 Steem * 0.08 USD/Steem). In the new scenario, the total amount of rewards will be $6,800 (the reward pool + the collateral of voters, or tip).

If the value of Steem gets back to what it was 2 months ago, namely $0.16, the numbers are:

• daily reward pool: $6,880
• collateral by voters: $,6880

Total: $13,760.