I think putting everything into Steem Power might be key to getting noticed. If you can give a good upvote, people are more likely to pay attention to you...bots too. I think it is possible for anyone to get there, maybe not "Whale" but "Dolphin." I also think that promoting has a much better long-term sustainability than buying resteems. I put a lot of my upvotes into promoted because the initial investment to promote is nulled, hence limiting the supply of steem and raising the value.