You need the eyes on your work. If you came to game the system, with no talent, and don't care about some sort of blogging career/hobby; I'm certain you'll end up spending way too much money trying to do that. There was a post recently published and the blogger spent ridiculous amounts of money to basically feel like a hero for a day or two. The message was clear and people saw it, but spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to purchase those votes is stupid and set a really bad example. That's my opinion there.

You can spend money to get eyes, or you can develop a solid following who will support you for free simply because they enjoy your work.

Curation is incredibly important. When I'm not writing up a post, or responding to comments, I try to get out and vote as much as possible. Since people seem to enjoy my stuff, I've been able to build up a nice pile of Steempower. I like to use it to give back as much as possible.