I think there are different elements at play. Yes, you are absolutely right that it's key to follow the right people and get involved, get informed get educated and really think about the value you can bring to the community. It doesn't help to whine about how hard it can be, you just have to go for it and persevere.

But, when it comes down to it, ultimately it's the accounts that hold big amounts of Steem Power who determine your rewards and the resulting influence you get. I love your post, and I could write the nicest of compliments, but when I hit the upvote button the impact is negligible.

I think Steemit's future depends on how succesfull this platform becomes at attracting the planet's best content crafters. I really think that content quality will be THE decisive factor when other platforms based on similar principles (decentralized and rewarded) arise. Platform success always comes with competition, it's only a matter of time.

Every single Steemian would like the price of Steem soar to ten or a hundred times what it is today. But, if you hold big amounts of SP that value is exactly what you are influencing (from a helicopter perspective that is)

So, when you have much SP and you 100% self-vote a meaningless comment, in the short term you get your author and curation reward, in the long term you have decreased the value of Steem.

But when you have much SP and you upvote a great comment or post from a talented new Steemian, you forfeit your author reward, only the curation rewards is yours, but you might have motivated and encouraged new talent to develop further, you have fostered and contributed to the community and as a result you have postively impacted the value of steem itself.

I know it's hard sometimes to spend hours curating and finding talented bloggers. You shall not whine about it. Because within the Steem ecosystem it's even more true than outside:

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

end of rant.
sorry for ranting.