I believe we all don't start up having so much in followers and earnings and it's not so good because we are the cause of this and so many troubles we have. I believe it starts with motive, if the motive is right, then all other things will fall in place. No one jumps into a river without knowing what's in there first. There are people who already are having a good stay here, the best any newbie can afford himself or herself is to leverage on reading their posts thoroughly and commenting alongside with reasonable and interactive comments. I also didn't get this initially but the day I got the idea and how much I had missed alot not doing the hardwork of reading and commenting qualitatively, only then did my story started changing.

You are so right by saying steemit is hardwork. If the motive is just to make money, there are tendencies you might leave in no time because the upvotes won't come as expected but if adding value is the goal, then one can never be tired of impacting other lives with the knowledge one has. It's simple

Get your motives right

Follow those who have been here before and leave reasonable comments on their blogs

Do not spam and most importantly

Never plagiarize, it's like the greatest offence here

Growing in this community requires hardwork and one must be ready to give it.

Final words for newbies: If you want to be read, you have to read others.

If you don't read through what other people have written, why expect others to long for your materials.