Broseph, a month ago nobody knew who I was. Even if your content isn't good, you can use the bots to upvote your post to the Trending page consistently. I lost money the first few times I did it. Now I gain every time.
Some of that is from upvotes from real human beings with high value accounts. If you have an opinion and can get your point across in an entertaining way, people will reward you.
You say your stuff is good. Great. Do you have money to promote your work? If you do, then get to it. If not, then it looks like you have another problem to solve.
Also, don't take advice from your friend. Take advice from me. I'm your new friend.
Good luck.