I put off getting a brokerage account for years due to overwhelm. If I were showing a friend what to do, it would be something like this (not financial advice):

1. Pick a broker and open account. Their websites will give direction to walk you through the process step by step.
2. Really, just pick one. Don't overthink it. Fidelity and Schwab are popular and don't get as bad a rap as some others.
3. Link a checking account to fund you stock purchases. This may be done in the setup process. It might take a little time for your bank/credit union to verify the connection.
4. Fund your brokerage account. There will probably be a button somewhere saying "transfer funds" or something like that.
5. When your account is funded, look for a big button saying something like "BUY STOCKS".
6. There, enter the code for the company (e.g. GME, DWAC).
7. Say how many you want to buy. There are some options such as limits and puts. Limit means you can set an amount you don't want to pay over. For example, if I'm buying 1 share of GME and it says it is at $180, I can set a limit for 200, just in case the price rockets in between the few minutes between now and the time the order finishes processing.

That's it! There is way more you can learn, but that's all the basics my theoritical friend would need to know to buy a share through a broker.

From there, I might direct him to direct register (DRS), since that makes it harder for brokers to do shady stuff. If he were wanting to direct register a share of GME, I would direct him to the following post. The information here only applies to GME, but it gives a good overview of the DRS process:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ptvaka/when_you_wish_upon_a_star_a_complete_guide_to/