Thank you for putting this out there. Like many others, it is of course disheartening when your post that you worked hard on barely hits $1 but I always remind myself that I've invested zero money in SteemIt yet I'm getting something out of it, no matter how small.
Ever since I've started SteemIt, I've used more of my time on something productive and it was something me and my husband were looking to do. There's such a satisfaction when you write or create something, money comes second now but eventually it will pay off so we just gotta keep at it :)
Thats the mindset I have now @siren87. We invested only on our efforts and no money down to open the account too, so nothing is lost except time. No matter how small the value, we will eventually earn. Like stock market, the value always fluctuates too.