As a fairly new user on tha wacky Steemit, I have shared your frustration sweet @corinnaherden ! In fact, many others have....I realized quickly though that you cannot expect to make hand-over-fist $green$ here and have resigned myself to just enjoy the interactions for what pleasurable experience they are - and that has been worthwhile for me. It's a waste of time to me to k!$$ any whale @$$ (!) - I tell it like is and have had some enlightening discussions. I see a lot of talented and intelligent people post here who I learn from and, for me, that makes Steemit an enjoyable platform to engage in.

Recently I peeked at my wallet and see it decreased from $200+ in "value" to just $160, despite adding 40 "followers" (what the!!!) - I consider myself to be among the biggest 'crypto-dummies' here and frankly just don't get this blockchain business! I still come back for the good people who are here however, and hope you do the same.
Rock On / STEEM On Always,