Ask HN: Is a bad traction a judgment call?

Hi, there are 2 types of traction

Just posting somewhere (it can be ph, hn, post on reddit) -> Thousands of users -> Heaps of subscriptions. Instant traction that doesn't stop. These are usually the guys who make 5-10k$ MRR in 2 months

hard growth. The all action from point 1 and another plus 100's of different actions (article writing, google ads, cold emails and lots and lots of stuff) - hard and slow growth. Thousands of dollars of investment in advertising and marketing hypothesis testing. Hard and slow growth, scrambling forward. And after years, you come to your long awaited 1-2k$ of revenue.

And so I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who found themselves in point 2 (I'm there) and was able to turn the tide.

Would love to hear your stories.