Recently a respected Steemian, 
https://steemit.com/steemit/@practicalthought/steemit-for-beginners
His post is here. He made some really nice comments about me in the comment section. :) So, of course I had to respond.
I thought it was a good idea, as I used to write to the small accounts often. I don't do it as often, because times have changed some and in addition, we just haven't had many around.
In the early days: I landed on Steem in the middle of the trending page with barely any crypto knowledge beyond having heard of Bitcoin, I had a lot to learn. It was August of 2016 and Steem was ranked 6th on the CoinMarketCap.
My knowledge level at the time was Bitcoin was some kind of digital token that the government didn't like and that provided transparency and privacy which seemed like a strange combination. In addition, I thought that Steem was a social media platform that was based on privacy, Freedom and might provide some ability to earn Bitcoin. (haha, I was a bit off in my expectations)
This post probably best describes my minnow experience. I wrote it after 5.5 weeks of working daily on Steem.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@whatsup/the-life-of-a-minnow-why-you-should-care-part-one
I hate to say it myself, but it really was an excellent post and one I might repost soon, because some things have changed, but many things haven't.
To sum things up a bit... I struggled to find an audience, to be taken seriously, to find content I could write about that was of interest to anyone.
I was outspoken enough to annoy the whales.
I made 96 posts that didn't earn a penny and hundreds more that made a few cents. Rarely back then though you could get a big vote from time to time, and once a week or so I did.
I like to say I grew this account, earning pennies at a time. I tracked small growth and looked for tiny success stories to tell myself, and I didn't quit.
Fairly early on I spent about $100 dollars on Steem which equaled around $60 in Steem by the time I paid fees and transferred it around.
Even pennies add up as Warren Buffet likes to say. Over time you start to get small curation rewards and develop an audience it happens so slowly you barely notice it, but then it begins to snowball.
I've never had a delegation, I've never been on a whale's auto voter, I just kept posting.
This is part of a previous post that explains how I built my account:
The price was 7 cents, and I just kept posting.
Dan and Ned were fighting, the community was toxic, the community blamed SteemIt, Inc, and Witnesses said the minnows were "Draining the Rewards".
I just kept posting.
Dan quit in a manner that triggered me so hard, I am barely over it now. (Corporate Culture, I hated how he treated his investors) I am pretty much over it at this point, but at the time it was upsetting.
I just kept posting.
Many of my posts in the early days didn't earn enough to receive a payout, I got mad and yelled at the whales.
I just kept posting.
Earning Steem was painfully slow, and dealing with the community felt hard at times. I made some friends and some enemies.
I just kept posting.
Sometimes I took dumb positions on community topics, and I made people mad. Sometimes I embarrassed myself.
I just kept posting.
The reward pool was broken in a hardfork, many protested or left for a while.
I just kept posting.
The price went up after Dan left, there were mixed feelings and lots of debates.
I just kept posting.
At some point I hit 1000 SP
I just kept posting.
At some point I hit 10,000 SP
I just kept posting
It adds up faster now
I just keep posting.
What will you do?
If I were giving advice, I would tell people this is more about Networking than Content. No one is going to shower you will rewards for showing up. You nearly have to pry Steem out of the system. Make friends, find a nitch, support all things Steem. Seek a peer circle rather than Dolphin and Whale votes as the numbers do not support seeking big votes.
Make friends and grow with them. In the long run, it pays off. There are plenty of paths to success find someone you consider successful and emulate them.
