In my opinion you can apply Evolution and Survival of the Fittest to Steem.
In my case I'm only 2 weeks here but already made ~70$
And that's just the payout of the first week..
I also got a massive delegation!
This all would not be possible if I didn't put some effort into it!
I analysed, learned this really massive learning curve and tried it out.
Now I'm truly already a part of a beautiful german speaking community.
Greets :)