I wouldn't say it's ever too early for voice coaches. It might be nice to avoid them in order to reduce expenses, but the voice is one of those few things in this world that a trans person needs to go all-out on. If something isn't working, try something else, and keep trying until you succeed - unfortunately, many think they're hopeless, or that there's something that's making the process extra-challenging for them.
Now, that may or may not be true... but giving up is a horrible thing to do for this aspect of a person's transition. It changes how one is perceived the most dramatically out of any other single thing.
The falsetto method is useful. You won't need to use it once your voice has been reached and practised sufficiently, and it's a great learning tool because falsetto is something I'm sure everyone is capable of. I'm thinking you're right about there being a psychological barrier, because a lot of MtF people are pretty afraid to train their voices - understandably, of course. I mean, nobody wants to sound foolish when they're trying to be serious. But, sounding foolish is almost always a part of the learning process; it's like expecting a basketball player to never miss if you think otherwise.
There are other ways to reach the voice. Andrea James had a method that I read way back when I was twelve... I had quite the aptitude for things back then, so I produced a voice from the scant information I had available. Most of that was anecdotes from her program, and voice coaching lessons on Youtube directed at others - I used those lessons for myself.
I believe that approaching a person's voice is a highly individualized process, because there doesn't seem to be one way that works for everyone yet, aside from voice coaching. It would be nice if there was such a way. The most important things are persistence, maybe a little creativity, and the will to experiment and - gasp - have fun. The voice shouldn't be ominous, or a chore, ideally. It's actually pretty easy to make into fun, by trying ridiculous things or imitating character voices when you feel like it.
I wish you the best, and I wish I had detailed answers... but that, I imagine, is the nature of the beast.
