Hi @vernonandfriends! First, congrats on continuing to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and learn from the experience!
Welcome to (what I believe will become) the best social network on the internet! I know it seems like a like a lot to learn at the start, there are a couple of things you can do without much effort to start getting your followership up quickly.
First, make sure to follow @bot-helper so you have a better chance at getting some exposure on your content. You can check out what I mean by taking a look at this link. Also consider following @minnowsunite and @minnowsupport
Next, take a look around the Steemit community and check out the chat rooms. You want to start getting known, so take a little time to chat with others and promote your introduction link (in the #postpromotion chatroom)
Finally, check out some of the tags and topics on the right side of the dashboard. Find a topic you are interested/knowledgeable in and start commenting. The more great comments you make, the better chance you have for people to start following you! Feel free to follow me as well (@randomness) so we can go on this journey together! I have just started following you.
Good luck getting started and just remember to take it a day at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day!