Find like-minds, build communities. For example, there is the #SteemChurch community. There is the #ColorChallenge community. There is the #InformationWar community. Different Steemit communities think different and grow together as they upvote each other. Once in a while, whales can downvote you but not consistently. Stick together with a bunch of friends and grow together on Steemit over the course of many years and brace yourself for the storms. In the past ten months, I've been flagged a few times but I rode through those storms, recovered my reputation points & became stronger each time.