Thanks Piotr. I really appreciate the feedback! I know I still have so much to learn.

What were reasons for which it crashed and burned?

I think the biggest reason is that while my content was good (as always), I had no audience, or way of reaching an audience that would read me. The Diary Game opened that door by allowing me to get involved with other shakers and movers on the platform.

That's a huge goal. I don't know anyone here who reached such an earnings, without investing tons of money and powering up in the first place.

My goal isn't to earn $1,000 USD on Steemit alone - only in total with all my other entrepreneurial activities which are diverse and spread across many different topics including real estate, lifestyle consulting, tourism, English teaching, photography, website building - I do it all. But, I do believe that even if I was pulling $100 per month off of Steemit while always growing my SP, the platform would become more viable for me. My goal is to create and retain capital on the platform, while also pulling out capital to do other things with.