Chances that your post gets upvoted by a whale are influenced by the time your post remains on the top of "New posts" list.
At peak hours steemit is full of users and this list just get spammed by new content that other people post, if you are not having enough upvotes try to change your working schedule, start experimenting what works best for you.
There is always whales curating content so if you want to get noticed you better keep writing and engaging.
Always add something unique to your posts, choose a niche that you are familiar with.
If you know how to flip burgers post about that and dominate the burger niche.
The more you post the more known you become and eventually your follow base will increase.
At the start you really should work hard. But after that you can just use your brain.
I played a game World of Warcraft and there was a Warrior that had 200k kills (it takes like 3 years to get) and he was a known Warrior because he engaged in the community, he was a veteran. His success was based on the time he spent playing and not the fact that he played good, moreover he really was a shit Warrior.
I guess you got what I mean by this Warrior example, keep grinding and you will become something eventually.
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