Had the same answers with almost all the people , that I tried to convince, that Steemit is a THING! After the first post or two, they do not get much profit and they just surrender.
I myself also had a period... After the first two or three months on this platform. I barely visited it for about month or two, and then decided to give Steemit another try and it just started working. Of course, you have to invest part of your time, but maybe everyday an hour or two wont hurt you at all. My account gains popularity and power, which is awesome and I love to see my steem power rise everyday.
With greater steem power come greater curation rewards and bigger Stack rewards of course! I think it is most profitable if you invest all of your earnings in steem power. This will sooner or later pay off.
Wish you all the best!