Money attracts more money... that's one of the aspects of Hive that I didn't understand when I first started posting on the platform. Posting good quality content will only get me to a point where I could receive some random upvote from a curation group. It won't happen in every content that I have because like you said, "curation groups also have limitations" and there are plenty of other creators who are also deserving of the support.
That's why I agree with you when you also said that the "small upvotes" would be the better source of income here in Hive because they tend to be consistent in supporting you in the long run.
So building Hivepower is a good way to show the community your commitment to the platform. It will also earn the trust of other users who are also committed to building their accounts here in Hive.
This goes in other aspects of life as well. As @ctrpch once said, "I can tell you how to quickly make a small fortune, start with a big fortune." 😆 Failing that you need to put in a lot of time and work. We are often too seduced by the idea of making lots of money fast, but in reality this doesn't happen unless you win the lottery.
This is practical knowledge, I like it 😅