I didn't have any illusions of grandeur when I signed up for steemit. For me, it was an experiment to see if people would read the stuff that I was writing about. Faceplant got to be such a downer that steemit was better than wasting my time putting stuff up on faceplant that nobody would see, much less read.
As for cryptos, when I can spend steem dollars at the grocery store, then it will be money. As long as I have to convert it to bitcoin and then convert that to U.S.D., it's difficult for me to use, not that I have any to convert. I've been powering up 100% to gain more vote power. I don't have the ability to invest in steem, so I have to earn it all here by posting and curating.
I can't complain, I have a better following here with more engagement than I ever had on faceplant.