I run a complete, self-hosted Matrix stack including bridges to WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram and Signal as well as Element Call (Livekit) and MAS (the new authentication system).
I don't think there's any shortcuts. You just need to install them and work through any issues, one-by-one. Start with just the homeserver (Synapse, don't bother with anything else yet) and add one component at a time and get it working before moving to the next.
I will say that having a decent knowledge of reverse proxies, networking, DNS and certificates will help you greatly. Having a solid understanding of Docker (if you're using Docker) would be of great benefit too.
It should be much easier today than it was five/six-odd years ago when I started; things are more polished now than they were then.
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