My dear friend, I remember when I told someone about Steemit, after opening account what motivated him was the plenty money he saw on trending, but after two weeks he almost gave up because this was not what he had in mind.
It's like Steemit brings out the best and hide out the ones with little upvote.
What I tell my new comers is to do it for the community not the money, make friends and try to build healthy Relationship.