There is indeed need to invest in oneself in any and every area of life. Depending on other people's goodwill is a fool's errand and beggars cannot be choosers.

It is necessary to be prepared; to have a nice stake in the platform, to have a reputation for contributing to the growth of the communities within which one interacts, to be willing to sacrifice for the long term.

It is difficult to get such stakes especially if one is dependent on curation and upvotes to gather SP unlike those who have money to invest or who have been fortunate to get delegations from whales. It is slow going but it is something.

To keep being relevant though, goes beyond huge SP, it also involves innovation, willing to change to adapt, to manage situations. @exyle recently spoke about changing his content. This is despite the fact that he gets great upvotes for every Dtube posts he makes. If someone at that level can see the potential in reinventing his content creation, what then can be said of the redfish and minnows like me.

I believe that the future of steemit is as you speak but then again, a little can be so much for some people. If more persons are onboarded then it means that the platform has grown and this will affect the price of steem. It therefore means that the little payouts can still mean big money for some. Some persons will find that satisfactory and will be comfortable with what they have achieved.

I hope more persons join in and more talents get involved in the platform. There is so much we can do and this is the time for those who seek more, to dig in and claim their space before the flood.