I think you are so right. When you look back at the accounts of some of the most successful Steemians - even the ones who use bidbots - many of them clearly slogged their guts out in the early days to make friends, comment on posts and meet other Steemians, all the while publishing posts that initially only earned them a few cents.
The secret that all these successful Steemians have in common is this: they stuck at it :)
So I would add two 'p's to your GOIC formula: Persistence and Patience.