Excellent guide fro beginners! Although money can be an important factor for some writers, I suggest new writers focus on growing their audience with high quality and engaging content. Unfortunately Medium is not money making machine as it used to be several years ago. However, it is still a great platform to find audience for your newsletters and websites. In addition it is serendipitous and some writers find extra consultancy or book deals. A few years ago I wrote an inspiring story about it. I link it here as a reference.

https://medium.com/illumination/an-unexpected-55k-contract-a-new-client-and-a-soulmate-were-born-out-of-a-simple-story-on-medium-b51af71058a3