Well said @zord189. There is no such thing as a free lunch, if ever there was. I totally agree with you: starting initiatives on @steemit are the same as starting any business. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. Then it's commitment and tenacity.

I think I may have mentioned before, in a post or a comment, that I initially started blogging on WordPress for 2 reasons - to showcase/cultivate a different writing voice and in the hope that I could monetise my writing/blog. It didn't happen on that platform. I perservered for about 4 years and then @jaynie introduced me to Steemit. I have yet to draw anything from this platform, but what I have made, with advice from folk like you and @jaynie, is to stay and it looks like my account is growing. I have also been able to pay for the odd very big little thing to make my account look nicer - like your awsome signature. I have also been able to delegate/donate a little something to the odd project or contest.

Conversely, I have been on the receiving end of overwhelming generosity from folk I've never met, like @raymondspeaks when my account was hacked and what little I had was taken, and from @lynncoyle1 after Hardfork20 when I ran out of Mana.

That's not to say there aren't naysayers and trolls. There are. This community is a microcosm of the real world and we have all sorts. How we choose to deal with them (or not) is what makes life here good or better.

Lots of folk can learn from you. That you've never had a @curie vote is not a reflection on your value to the community. As I think we've discussed before, the criteria for quality (generally) not just for this, are so hard to explain. The technical defiintion of quality (Demming) is "fit for purpose". What's fit for your purpose may not be fit for mine. So, where does that leave one? As I have also mentioned before (I seem to be saying that a lot!) I have been amazed at my posts that have been selected by that team: they have been posts I would not have considered "quality". Others, that I have considered better, have just disappeared into cyberspace, never to emerge again. Except where I find them useful.

So, keep on doing what you're doing. You add so much to Steemit and the communities of which you are such an important part.

Sending love and strength from McGregor, South Africa ;)