How They Got To Be Whales
For some greatness has already fallen upon them. But this make sense, early adopters have become large in their influence. Some articles go nuts while other fall flat. You know that if you are active on the system you are constantly accruing more and more momentum. The system is built that way.
Little Chunks At A Time
Your posts, curation, and participation will show up in small increments. For much of what you do when you start out is start to build influence with Steem Power. So every little bit of steem power you get counts and leverages you a little higher in power all the time. It can have a cumulative / compound effect. Even if it is very small from a post, comment, etc. And .... it is constantly coming in if you are active. Putting in the time on the system interacting. Is the key. Because it is inherently how equity in this system is earned for anyone.
No Content No Income
So even if you make very little.. you still made something. Keep producing content. The more Steem Power you get the more of a bump you get from upvoting your own work. You can get more in curation rewards. The more people you will find that are interested in your stuff. It takes a while to build a brand. Put the content that you want to see on here. Tell yourself what is quality. Unless you get downvoted you don't loose a thing.
It Is Okay To Work For it
Discussions about greed aside, isn't your work worth it to you? Isn't it personally meaningful? So being patient with the process even if you don't bag a whale's endorsement so be it. You can take some cheer knowing that you have it a noble try. So it is worth working for.
When I am not a steemer, I do architectural visualization work. To make pictures like the one above took me years to learn how to do and I would tell you as nice as that picture looks I still have much to learn. But I keep trying. I put myself out there. I keep producing. Someone told me that if you want to be a writer you have to write. If you aren't doing what you love then maybe all of this is not for you.
Author's can make money on their content by being seen. Gathering a following takes time. Already I have had some of the same people who have upvoted my work. Many I replied to or have upvoted them in various ways. This builds loyalty specially if you happen to lead more readers to them. Quote their good ideas and post the link to the article that you support, get them seen. This helps bring up your value in the system. Soon people will seek you out for you constantly make their days brighter and help plant a few SBD in their wallets.
Conclusions
Whale, minnow I don't care. I hope that the time you spent reading this was of value you to you. If so of course, upvote me. But don't be shy, tell me what you think. The more we comment, and discuss the better it is for us all. Not just in this article but system wide.
Steemstats.com
Be sure to check out : https://steemit.com/steemstats/@jesta/steemstats-com-steem-account-monitoring-and-statistics just came out with a great basic dashboard for steemit. It can really help you start to see the big picture of your steem stats.