I think a better way for a new person to judge their success in earning is to look at the feed of all new posts and then use that to get some perspective. If one looks at the value of new posts going back a few hours, they will quickly see that there are many posts that don't earn a single penny and then a lot more that get between $0.01-0.10.

The way I see it, if you're earning anything here you should be thankful, especially those of us who have a decent full time job and a roof over our heads and food on our tables. Those small earnings of less than a dollar do eventually add up. I've made a point to read a lot of posts and reply with something more than "good post" when I have something to say about the content because I feel that adds value to the community as a whole and the author is usually appreciative of a well thought out reply to his or her post.

I consistently make a dollar or two each day or on a really good day even $5 just from my comments on other people's posts. I like looking at my wallet and claiming those small rewards because it means I'm growing my account. It's a constant reminder of that. On top of that, I've poured my heart out in some of my own posts and earned more than I could have ever hoped in my short time here. Finally, I've also begun to add to my steem power by buying STEEM and transferring it here and exchanging it. About 40% of my wallet is money I've invested here as I see it as a great way to earn sort of a "dividend" on my investment. It's a long term strategy for sure but I have a feeling it's gonna pay off big time after several years.

But getting back to your talk about less fortunate people who are using steemit to earn money to better their own lives...I agree it is wonderful that steemit is helping people to pull themselves out of a bad situation. It's very inspiring.