Hi Joel,
Welcome to Steemit! The best part is the space you have to expound on what you're interested in. You can profit by content and by curation (or upvoting). Here is a tip I'll share with you, something I just learned:
You are rewarded for voting, as well as posting content. The optimal number of up-votes you should give out each day is 20. That's because one twentieth of your voting power is used up with each vote, and your 100% voting power is fully replenished each day. So not up-voting is just a waste. I make it my habit to up-vote for every person that replies to my posts because it rewards them for rewarding me. Then I seek out the best work I can find and vote for them, too.
If you click on your icon at top right, you can filter to just see replies to you, or your comments to others, etc.
It takes over a month to start seeing some progress on your rewards, so patience is required. Glad you joined!