One thing that I think many newbies and maybe even veteran Hive hoarders struggle with is the fact a few popular people around here are raking in some major rewards while others are apparently left by the wayside. But there is more to this than meets the eye and there are several important moving parts that go into making your time on the blockchain profitable. Sure, I'm just a buffoon and you could argue that I'm not a successful one of that, but at least I have many years of experience fooling around on the blockchain.
One of the crucial things when browsing on Hive is to not focus on what others are making even though that comparison is so easy to make: "this guy only wrote this and that and is making x amount in rewards" - that kind of mindset is not the best. Instead focusing on growing your stake by setting some achievable goals I think is a much more constructive approach that can lead to some surprisingly good results in time.
Speaking of time, things can take quite a while before you get into a groove of posting, commenting and stacking that Hive and HBD. Unless you are an attractive chick which can change things quite a bit: meaning you don't have to struggle like all the rest of the stinky crypto plebs.
The most satisfying thing on Hive is to watch the curation and HBD savings rewards come in. For example I claim the Hive curation rewards once a week and the rewards for keeping HBD into savings once a month ( both on my alt account ). And I always look forward to each event, always thinking how much do I need to get x amount of Hive or HBD per day. Focusing on growing you bags is always motivating, especially because it acts like passive income and for lazy bums like myself that's the best type of income.
Probably the most important thing on Hive is becoming friends with people that actually like your content or the content that you intend to make. And that is also a process that takes time and effort, unless you want to go with the "very good post ser" comment on every post and hope at least some will get the joke and not downvote you into oblivion.
Mastering these important few things: being patient, focusing on growing your stake instead on what others are earning and trying to establish real connections is the key to not staying a pleb for the rest of your crypto journey on Hive. I know they sound boring as heck but if I learned about them faster I would be a whale now instead of a broke ass pleb :)
