S'easy
1) Find another aquarium that appears to be free of disease/contains apparently healthy fish;
2) Squeeze out all/some of the crap in that tank's filter media into a plastic bag containing some tank water;
3) Dump it in your tank;
4) Turn on your filter(s).
You're done. In a few days the bacteria transferred from the established tank will have colonized yours, more so if you feed them (grind up a couple pinches of flake food and put it in the tank). Don't sweat the aspect of dumping brown gunk in your tank - most of it's already broken down and is basically just spent organic matter (read as dirt), the stain to the water will disappear almost immediately and what you're left with is an abundance of healthy denitrifying bacteria which make aquatic life in a box (and elsewhere) possible. If you want to spend your money on bacteria in a bottle, go for it, but there's nothing in there that isn't available for free elsewhere like on the 2-4 bunches of live plants you can buy for the price of freshwater elixir. A handful of leaves/detritus off the bottom of a pond will produce much the same result but might vector in some odd and potentially harmful pathogens/parasites - unlikely but possible.
There is no "cycling" a tank. What there is, is establishing a denitrification cycle with the appropriate bacteria that can be found almost anywhere an established freshwater ecosystem exists, domestic or otherwise. Additionally, almost anything from such an ecosystem will be coated in such bacteria be it plants, stones, wood, etc., the amount depending largely on the availability of suitable sites for bacteria to establish which is why foams and porous materials (charcoal/lava rock/ceramics) are utilized as filter media - more places for bacteria to live.
If you're using filter cartridges don't replace them - just rinse them if you must to maintain water flow through the filter as it's established bacterial colonies that make them perform best, not the worthless amounts of carbon that many contain and which cease to absorb anything in less than a week's time but do serve as pretty good bacterial sites if left alone.
Have fun.
