Let's be honest, if you don't put anything into Steem you probably aren't going to get anything out of Steem. Unless you are incredibly skilled or popular it would be difficult to build up a meaningful amount of Steem without some sort of investment. Sure you can hope for some generous curation rewards with an average effort but soon those will end when real investors realize you aren't bringing anything to the table.

The best thing to do is work, save some money, buy a few thousand Steem and work it like you would work a business.