"Small potatoes" can grow... :-))
It would be really nice if some of your writer friends joined Steemit. The lack of quality can grow, too... ;-)
I really appreciate that you try to understand the Steem. Be patient with yourself. And please never compare to others, especially not concerning the rewards. Don't take part in the race for rewards, concentrate on good writing. Not too often because a lot of human curators (we Steemians are all curators, wether in a team or not, wether a high stake or not...) won't follow you in this case. A lot of ur follow their feed. They love gems inside, they are not very interested in always seeing/reading the same person. You will be successful, I'm sure, dear potato... ;-)