I have been on steemit for approximately 46 days now and I can confidently say that of a truth if one is not advised or guided on what to do, one might get discouraged.
When I first started I was advised by the person that introduced me to the platform to do post engagement, that it is the only way to draw the attention of people, this really paid off.
Though wasn't that so easy, as you have to thoroughly read through some people post before commenting, at times I was even tempted to type simple comment repeatedly(this was a bad idea, could remember when you noticed it, but you were lenient in correcting me jokingly, thanks alot for that @barrydutton had to stop it when I realized it) rather if I don't have an idea I rather ignore the post.
Post engagement and upvoting people post really helped me a lot in this platform, and it is helping me,. When I made my introductory post, at first it looked like as if nobody saw it, but after few hours I got some upvotes, though little but I understood the reason (I was still growing and my reputation is still low) this didn't discourage me ,yesterday I entered a contest and made a post, to my surprise the views increased and the upvotes also increased, even my followers also increased. I was really impressed and my hope of success was renewed.
Success doesn't come cheap, it comes with hard work.
Thanks @barrydutton for your support and thank you for also helping newbies like me by this guiding article.
Goodmorning