I love the site, but the average person is not going to stick around to possibly one day build enough steem power to earn some money.

They will stick around if it's fun and connects them with people through good features.

It really seems quite clear once you say it yourself, doesn't it? We've all been there before...using a social media site and making no money. We didn't do it for the hopes of becoming a millionaire. People didn't leave MySpace for Facebook because they were earning money. They left because it was just a better experience overall. That's how Steemit needs to be. The money issue will mostly take care of itself.