I am extremely grateful I started creating content a looong time ago and I made a lot of mistakes back then, because that taught me pretty much how you can build a community and get something out of that on almost all the websites.
It's a simple recipe that you posted on your article too:
Creating high quality content and try to put as much value in it for the user as you can.
Treat well your users and followers, and care about them, because they are the core of your content.
Mind your business, do your job, and don't beg for rewards. Money will, eventually, come.
I love your post, and other posts like this because I always get a "yeah, so I'm doing the right thing" feeling when I read something like this.
One you learn that content is what matters, and that the value you put in it is the thing that gets you the rewards you seek, things get way easier.
You'll understand all you have to do is to spend time creating and working on something great, instead of begging for upvotes, likes, comments, followers, etc.
It's funny how there are so many people online, even here, on Steemit, that post a few times a day "articles" that contain only a picture and maybe a little bit of text, and they complain why they don't make any money.
Great posts, really like it, keep up the good work! :)