I guess just like the early days of bitcoin it was easier to mine bitcoin. Nowadays to do the same requires more hardware. I think the difficulty level has increased in earning in steemit, though there are some privileged few who make enough to be on trending 24/7. I can relate to the feeling of getting no reward for hard work, let's hope the algorithm on HF20 could rein in the greed currently exhibited on the unbalanced system.