You've received a lot of great advice here! I hope you take it all to heart because we've all "been there, done that" - had to build up our accounts.
One of the first posts I remember reading when I joined was that it takes 4-6 months of posting and reinvesting everything you earn to get going. But that's not 4-6 months of averaging 1 post per week... this is 1-2 (or more) posts daily - sharing them in the Discord groups. This is talking to people, commenting real comments. (Consider Discord a place to get extra comments in...)
HF20 did make things harder for newbies - hopefully, they will address these issues very soon. But it's not impossible.
It takes time and diligence, but you can get there.
I found you thanks to @macoolette's entry to the Pay it Forward curation contest. Keep up the great work.