It sounds like you never developed a readership. It's not views you must be measuring. it's readership.

You needed to have opened your own magazine and stopped publishing in other people's magazines. That way, you build a readership. Never just publish under your own name. Publish in your own magazine.

I would be interested to know what other content sites pay more than Medium. I do not know a single one, and there isn't a chance in hell that I would ever work for Fiverr or Upwork, etc. And I wouldn't write for clients either.