Then mark my words very well!

There are few things to have in consideration, I'd like to separate them in three parts, each one of them is equally important, so try to take them all in consideration.

How many of you relate Instagram to badly done food pictures? Or Steemit with any crapy content and link that leads to other author's publication just for making few dollars here in steemit thanks to these equally crappy curators' vote?

This is something that been always popular here around. But if you see their life here in Steemit (I mean these accounts that do such things) don't last for too long.

But if you keep fresh in your content and you put on it a little bit of effort to make it look decent and interesting, I assure you that it won't pass unnoticed (if you follow the other two advices of course).

And by fresh I mean to not repeat the same content once and over and over again and always came out with something interesting, which leads us to the next point...

I would also call this the rule of "Don't ask, Propose instead".

Imagine you are a millionaire and you have a lot of resources to help others and make them go far. Maaaany of them will ask you for help, one after the another. If you would give them all even some tip, you would probably be broke in few weeks.

Not to say that nothing should be for free in the human kingdom.

So what to do to be special and show them you are different to the rest and you really deserve their help.
Simple: Be different.

In my case I always tried and I keep trying to be different in such a way that I want to get far with the quality of my art, and open the doors of my knowledge in art to everyone who needs it. I am killing two birds at once, giving something away instead asking for anything and keeping fresh and original with my content and skills.

So when you work on yourself, there is no need to steal from anybody in order to be interesting (or popular)
and you will always have new material to share with others. Your experiences, your way of thinking, self-critiques that you can apply to others or group of people, etc.

There was a REAAALLY talented artist that started at the same time than me, a year and few months ago. He started posting amazing pieces of traditional art and it was by far better than what i used to do. So how is it possible that he faded away without making any earning from this and I am still here?

See, Steemit is a Comunity. The only way you get to others is by participation. Don't be shy and talk to others,
answer comments, reward to those that participate at most on your posts. They are feeding your activity and giving you good stats.

Try to approach to those who have more influence than you, but not in order to ask them for money, help or whatever. A good advice is more worthy than money and these people would love to share their experience and tips away. Why? Because they are human animals too! We are all social animals and we LOVE to share.

But we don't like to share THINGS, because even if we are social animals, we are very territorial creatures.
So keep this in your mind from a biological point of view: Humans love to share words, experiences, knowledge (as long as it doesn't mean any material loss... such as their bank account password).

Next time you got an opportunity to talk with a whale or a dolphin, think about what you can give instead what you can take

If the comments in a post is your thing, then go with a "hey buddy, I admire your work... do you think you would find a moment to check my stuff out? Because I would really love your advice! Thanks!"

I assure you this will be at least one upvote on your stuff on 90% of the cases.

Thanks a lot for your support and I see you in the next one!

Bye!