I've managed to get quite far with bartering - I agree completely with you, nothing is "Free" (nor should it be really!), but you can offset quite a bit of hard costs by collaborating with others and each doing something that goes towards the work.

MJ started out with the Jackson 5 - which was a band! So he had a solid foundation in working with others and collaborating with his brothers and father to create a music empire. He didn't do it alone at first :)