Hear hear!!!
I have not been a member as long as you have (august 2017 for me)
But, I can really confirm what you are writing.
Hard work and quality content is almost the only thing that will make you reach the stars and if you have a little luck and get some patrons or whales to find and give you a up vote from time to time will help you.

I am still building my account here and want to say that beside all that you mention it is also a good thing to Power up all your STEEM.
The more STEEM POWER you have, the faster will your account grow in both reputation and "fame".
And when Steemit one day will be as big as the other more known social medias out there, you can probably find a lot of metodes to earn great value by just having put down hard work now in the early ages.
Think if you got into Facebook, Instagram or Youtube when there were only a few hundred thousand users, like Steemit is now, and you build a fan base then. I think you would have a ok income just by writing a post a couple of times each week.

So my tips is also like @Tarazkp, work hard, create good quality content and dont forget your followers that are writing comments to your post. give them a reply and a vote if they are serious and not spammers.
And my tip to all of you are: Power up!!!

Kindest regards
@Gyldenhorn