And no matter who you are, or where you are, you can pull someone up the ladder behind you.
When you combine the Steem Power usage in self-voting, vote collusion, and Whale shilling, is it any wonder you've not been hit by that chunky upvote recently?
Pending payout is directly proportional to how well you can shill yourself to the whales
@liberosist - Understanding the free market (or how you should learn to stop worrying and not be butthurt)
You can check out the 'shill' taking place by visiting the wallets of many large accounts, reviewing the direct transfers to these accounts, and then visitng the upvotes on recent posts of the senders.
May I suggest that a more palatable method to success and happiness here on the Steem Blockchain can be achieved by looking down the ladder, and not up.
Ways to lend a hand - There is more than just an upvote
Mentor someone or a community
This will take time and energy, and so be careful of burnout.
How? Provide blogs and comments that answer common questions.
Provide instructions and guides
If you've found a technique that works for you, share it!
Bookmark definitive guides produced by others and share those too.
Provide encouragement and Ideas
You could do a vlog for dtube - You could write a how-to for utopian-io.
Boost others
Ever read a post and think you know someone with similar interests or could help in this area? Drop their name and credentials into a message.
Credit and use the ideas of others
Repeat the good ideas of others and cite them
Spot the hard-working underdog
See someone singing the praises of others, engaging tirelessly and positively across the community? These people you should befriend.
Help others with time-consuming tasks
Weekly reports, engaging posts that require feedback to comments - lend a hand with the comment curation, it will be appreciated.
Use your professional skills here
Marketing, IT, Art, Psychology, etc - Bring your skill set to the table, your knowledge can help others advance.
WHY?
Supporting Evidence
I could go on, you know who you are - Thank you.
Opinions may differ over whether you'd rather wake up to a 10 SBD transfer to your wallet with a request to upvote a post, or the above...
... I know which I prefer.
Cheers
Asher @abh12345