Let me start by saying I don't disagree with anything you have said in this post. I don't. There is no guarantee in HIVE. It's about finding and expanding your circle.

The problem, as I see it, is how hard it is to break in with the people who have the power to change someone's Hive experience. If you don't write about the right things, you won't get the "Whale Votes" that have the capacity to be life changing.

You've chosen a subject matter as your niche that has gotten you on some big hitters' radars. Congratulations. I look through your blog and see a lot of high value posts. But, when digging a little bit, all of that value tends to come from 4-5 big account holders. So is your message getting out to the masses? Or are a bunch of people who are not reading your content voting for your posts in hopes of curation rewards knowing that big votes are coming?

I gave up. I spent over a year on STEEM putting a lot of effort in to creating daily posts that weren't just shitposting, I turned to the bots and used the voting services offered to boost my content in hopes of being seen. Eventually, I got tired of it and stopped.

Hive has brought me back, at least partially. I am trying to reinvigorate myself, but I still see a lot of the same behavior with a whole lot of people earning 0.63 HIVE on all of their posts, while a select few get these 50 HIVE payouts like this post is lined up for.

There is an economic gap between the haves and the have nots on HIVE, just like there was on STEEM, and I really haven't seen many efforts to amend it.

@acidyo having @OCD is one of the good projects, but there is a lot of pandering to the #OCD tag. Being seen and voted on with any sort of regularity is difficult at best.

All of that said, You seem to have found the right combination to get some big votes on your side, I'm happy for you for that. And you are correct that persistence and engagement are key to eventual success. But it is also very easy to get mired down in the struggle of the minnow class, and never be discovered. I could name 15 people from STEEM who had brilliant blogs who are no longer here because they never found support, and that was not through lack of trying, but because their subject matter was personal and not structured in a way that drew the power players to them.

Hive on! I'll be following your journey in my feed now.