Source
I too was a newbie in steemit. If you look back on my early days i barely made a cent.
Hell if you look even further back I was once accused of plagiarizing a post. Back then you have to understand there were hardly any newbie initiatives such as @newbieresteem created by @davemccoy and many more.

The @steembasicincome account probably helped spur these initiatives. Instead of donating money to newbies which they might just cashout give them a lifetime amount of access to free up votes.

Second I was not part of a community I was a loner so you could see many of my crpyto posts did not get upvotes. It was not until I actually met @underground the I found out the concept of steemit communities you see they are really find back then. I am part of alot of steem communities. One of the biggest I am part where I got my monk ranks is @cryptoempire founded by @spiritualmax
When you are part of communities you are encouraged to to keep posting on steemit.
I met a lot of cool people that I can say are my friends such @spiritualmax, @lunaticpandora, @eonwarped
You see a huge part of your steemit journey is not asking upvote me, follow me etc...
but enjoying it and not just making money. As you do this people will follow you back. Some friends i made that where not though communities are @cicar and @fullcoverbetting cool people. I meet them my reading their posts and really impressed by them. @cicbar is an amazing guy he once donated 20 steem to a newbie initiative. He even offered to help more ;) but yeah. Check his blog out :)

So why am i telling them? Well....
Just have fun. Find what you are good at in steemit. With the new steem apps you can get more exposure to your niche.
If you want even more upvotes use busy or esteem
Make friends, treat steemit like facebook (much better one) not a cashcow!
Come hang out with us at the Crypto Empire Community!
https://discord.gg/nZg6Ux