Great Idea. Maybe you could have some sort of weekly contest aimed at minnows. Poetry, fiction, or anything you have interest in. I think it goes a long way to have someone recognize your worth as a writer.

As much as I love whale votes, sometimes a simple heartfelt comment of appreciation is just as welcome and motivates you to push through a post that maybe you thought was gold and had a payout more akin to pyrite.

I have seen a person who I will leave unnamed talk about only voting up their own posts and comments and voting on others only 5% of the time. I think this is asinine and when it comes down to it, absolutely selfish.

You are leading by example. I don't have a large platform, but I see that helping new people have success, that steemit as a whole becomes better. We should all continue to try to help out our fellow minnow as we all grow and evolve.