Being able to work on Steem full time instead of just on the side is one of my dreams as well. I could in theory do it now but it's still to risky in my opinion so keeping my day job for the time being.
Regarding decentmemes, i took a look at your posts and I think that you can get much more than the few cents worth of upvotes you're getting on your memes if you spent more time and wrote some helpful/interesting blog posts.
You're not breaking any rules or anything, but it does seem a bit spammy and I don't think overall that will help you grow a following and start earning some real rewards on this platform.