You know what, I'd love to answer you right here, but I think I'll make some money with my reply and post my story of my path to whaledom as it's own top level article. I'm thinking of using the pseudonym @evilwhale. The name is an inside joke of sorts. I'll let you know when I write it up, which may not be soon because I spend too much time doing evil whale stuff.
Like what?
Tuning my voting bot for maximal rewards for one, checking out authors, reading chats to see how others are maximizing their rewards.