About whales,hmmm hope you will reach that level one day.

But about one thing you're totally right- hard work, that's the only way to succeed on Steemit.
Every single day learning something new about writing posts and posting, I couldn't imagine that a couple months ago that one day i will sitting and looking for info and etc to make a post on Steemit. And with hard work sometimes its pays out well.

Thanks for good motivation ;)