There are many factors that would affect one's success here at steemit but if you are new, you must focus on commenting, in that way you can be exposed a lot to other users.
Content creators like some with bigger SP can just create because they are already attracting upvoters, better if they also make comments while whales can just curate because they still can earn big by doing so. @done
But one thing is certain, if you do not have much SP you will get ignored a whole lot. So it is better to be true and honest and socialize a lot, it will take you far here at steemit.