Let's start with the Rogers' bell curve.
Current size of Reddit - 85,000,000 (Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors)
Current size of Facebook - 1,100,000,000 (Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors)
*sourced at http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites
Current size of Steemit 65,000 (total accounts created)
If Steemit reaches the size of reddit (85,000,000), then every Steemer on Steemit right now (the first 65,000) will be in the first .07% of total users.
65,000 / 85,000,000 = 0.00076471 or 0.07%
So according to Rogers' bell curve, this means that everyone on Steemit right now is in the early stage of "Innovators".
If you're just signing up to Steemit now, it may seem like you've already missed the boat when you look at the 3 steem in your account compared to the dolphins and whales.
But the key to having success on Steemit is to realize its potential. If you act now as if Steemit is going to have a great future, then you're going to have a great future along with it.
Some Perspective
Yes 
Years of investment = millions of steem
I 
Months of investment = thousands of steem
My point is don't give up if you're not making a lot of steem at first. Remember you are likely in the "Innovator" stage of Steemit.
My Recommendations to New Steemers
1 - Take a couple weeks and just play around with the site. Learn as much about Steemit as possible, without putting pressure on yourself to make money.
2 - Figure out if you think Steemit has the potential to be the size of Reddit or Facebook. Figure out if you believe it's a good place for you to invest your time.
3 - Spend time thinking about what value you can bring to the site long term. What is your area of expertise and how can it help the Steemit community.
4 - Have fun on Steemit and be patient with your financial goals. Just like everything in life... money will come or it won't... and if it doesn't... at least you were having fun.