"#1. If you focus on the money - you will NOT have a fun time."

Agreed. I've been coming to that same conclusion today, as a matter of fact.
I found myself making the most today from ANYTHING I'd done on Steemit so far since I joined by simply replying to a post, rather than making my own (of which I've done plenty, IMO).
So because of that, I'm focusing my energies on contributing to the community by offering conversation instead of content. There's plenty of content here, but not enough conversation, not enough back-and-forth.
I'm trying to get people to join me on this, because when you think about how comments sections look in other social media platforms, it definitely trickles down as you scroll. Whoever gets in first with the most relevant comment the soonest typically gets the "likes" or "votes". Then as that conversation wears forward, periodically you'll find other people making good points and getting votes also.
The problem with that at this point is that everyone is trying to be a content creator, rather than paying attention to what other people are saying.
It's like I said in a post I created a bit ago in an attempt to get conversation going (about camera gear - I'm a photographer), I quit Facebook the other day, and I'm turning to Steemit to get my social network fix. And what did I do on Facebook? I talked to people.