In general, I think a writer should have as many reasons for writing as possible. Writing for money on steemit is not bad because wanting money is bad, but because that's just a single reason. It's like putting all your eggs in one basket. And if that one single reason fails, the noob will feel utter disappointment and/or rage.
So, for me, for instance, learning as I write is of supreme importance. So I gain whatever happens. And learning as I read, too, not just reading to get followers. I've learned quite a lot in my time on steemit, and most of it is not even in the form of quantifiable facts, but rather just learning about other people and their interests. It's like real life. You just come out of it richer at the end, even if you haven't got a specific degree of achievement to show off. But there's facts galore, too. Seeing people actually engaged in nerdy stuff makes you more willing to come out of the nerd closet yourself and say "well, yeah, why not learn programming? it seems cool and will probably prove useful down the line".
The goal should be to make our writing anti-fragile, and that's best achieved when we become able to squeeze more than just monetary rewards out of this.
Edit: No mobdrops in a while!
Haha I think about mobdrops often. I frequently want to make it an opinion source but I just never quite get round to it (despite having written on on mobbs just yesterday).
You're totally WRITE in saying righting needs multiple reasons, and you and I seem to share the same; money, sure. But the pursuit of knowledge is also a big one and that's something I can get really excited about. Especially because I have so few people IRL I can share things I learn without boring them.
This is a great escape of nerdery for me!
(I also need to learn programming)