Your two sons can join my next meet-up :D Hahaha - we'll just make Steemians of them!
But yes, luck is part of it - in the beginning I randomly got support from a while, lasted a few (6?) months, and after that I reached almost 3000 SP - from scratch. Almost 90% came from that whale - I have no idea if I would've become such an active Steemian without that feeling of support/recognition.
Steem is not a fair game, it's a game of luck and networking :-)
Really hope to see you at 'a' meet-up someday!
Will try to make it there!
The oldest one already has an account. The youngest one will have to wait a little bit longer!