If you're looking at putting up a legit online property with real content and you really care about your community, I would suggest building your empire on Substack.
Medium is pretty much a thing of the past.
I know that's gonna shock a lot of people, but pay close attention to its traffic trends as well as its overall link value over time.
That ship sailed quite some time ago.
Instead, focus on Substack.
Substack is tricky because you actually have to produce quality content.
You actually have to care about your community.
But it can lead to something great if you know what you're doing, you publish quality content for a long period of time, and you know how to promote it on social media platforms as well as YouTube.