It's like this: You publish something, create a video, do some streaming, or whatever you do. You notice nobody is voting. That's because you don't have any paying supporters with HP. You need those. That's how you make money here.
People exist outside of Hive. Billions of people. After staking some tokens, they can support your work, forever, and earn to do so. With every vote they give you, your support base grows. A much better deal than throwing that money away. It's also a decentralized revenue stream. If one backs out you still have everyone else plus more might come with their money to support you. Your market or following is set in stone here. Nobody can take it away from you.
So yes, anyone could do that in the same way they ask people to support their Patreon. Now the content creator can make money. Don't even have to say, "Hive". Just direct them to your own brand which happens to exist on Hive and teach them what to do. Surely that memo already exists.
Watch a few streams and look how much money people are spending handing out tips. They'll never see that money again. Consumers would love to hear about this deal. Spend the same amount of money they spend in a year on HP instead and now they have something to show for it.
Even an entire community here can seek outside support in this fashion to support the happenings in their community instead of sitting there wondering why nobody votes. Perhaps the existing stakeholders simply aren't interested, but that doesn't mean several of the billions living on this planet are not interested. So now your community is successful.
Anyone can do this for themselves, starting today. Could have been happening for eight years. We're not trapped inside a bubble here. And if you're bringing money in the door, cashing out isn't a big deal. They need to be real people though. If there's no signs of life chances are it could lead to downvotes. I'm only talking about legit consumers, active and engaged.