I think it's very hard to earn money on here if you come with an "I NEED MONEY!" attitude. Actually, apply that to life in general. No matter how easy it looks, money doesn't come easily for anyone. The 'people' who are gaming the system most likely had money to start with - so they could create bots, and pay SEO writers (LOL drivel), and employ people to basically run the equivalent of a Steemit private blog network (PBN).
I joined in spring and really took for granted the number of posts that earned $2-$3, and the number of just upvotes I had. Since the update things have changed a lot, there's a lot more people on here. I got caught up in the $ part and life and left. Came back now because I miss it. I miss just letting thoughts loose and knowing maybe I will build an audience, and maybe I'll make friends and learn stuff. ... CLEARLY I'm not in a position of success on here lol - but I've learned from years of working for me - it takes a long ass time to make money and enough of it to survive.
Treat Steemit as a hobby (I mean, you all were probably posting for free on FB and Twitter and InstaTMI) - what's the difference?
Love how @themarkymark took time to honestly review an account. Somehow found buildawhale and that led me here - sometimes aimlessly wandering on Steemit IS worth it :-) Happy holidays!