It's always going to be a hard balance because it's unhealthy to lie to yourself and say you don't care about numbers if you actually do, but it's miserable to make art only for numbers (and also inefficient, you'd usually make more money in a basic office job without having so much work or stress!).
A common problem I see on Tapas is people who are desperate for subs, but unwilling to face the idea that they may need to change and improve or put more effort into their work to get that. Like.... hey, listen, do you really, honestly, seriously think that your comic deserves the same sub count as mine if you just make up the story as you go along, only do vaguely scribbled suggestions of trees with a default round brush for backgrounds and every panel is cropped really close to one person's head and chest just standing there looking forward directly at the camera and the dialogue is all written in Times New Roman with jagged speech bubbles? On what planet is the effort we're putting in even comparable?
Be real with yourself. If you want to be popular, that's fine, acknowledge that it's a thing you want and a necessary step towards being a professional; making a product that you can sell! But you also need to understand that to be a pro, you have to make pro quality work, and it's gonna be a lot of effort. You can't say you want popularity, but then when somebody says "hmm, but this could be better..." suddenly switch and be like "well I don't care because I'm just a beginner doing this for me for fun! I'm not changing anything about my work!" Either enjoy the freedom and lack of pressure of being a hobbyist (and seriously, there is nothing at all wrong with doing this. If comics are just your hobby just for fun and you're totally happy with that, I have huge respect for you.) or be ready to knuckle down and make work that's of comparable quality to other pros and popular artists, do market research, lots of art and writing study and planning.