How does one go about finding business brokers, specifically for selling a company?

I think as a first-time entrepreneur who is non-technical, you should focus 100% of your energy on your clothing business with your buddy. There is far less required to make a clothing business a success than a startup run by a non-technical founder. I don't mean to trivialize the challenges of running an apparel company (there are many) but comparatively, there is a greater chance of you having success with the apparel business than a startup. But you *reduce* your chances of success by diluting your focus with other ideas. Happy to talk to you in a call about starting off on the right foot with a cofounder.

Having 4 dogs and being a former sugar addict, I love the idea of dog cupcakes, kudos! My wife and I are currently solving a very similar issue with her t-shirt business. We don't have a freshness issue to deal with like you do, however we do have a scalability and growth issue that we are tackling. Understand, there isn't really anything that remarkable about dog cupcakes, it's cool concept but it would be very easy for someone to deconstruct and create their own recipe and brand. So you'll need to focus on how you sell your cupcakes. What value you offer your customers? Why your recipe is unique? Is there any portion of your product, formula or service that could be trademarked or patented? Do you have a memorable name, tagline and mascot? Are the health benefits to your product? I know that in some cases pet food can be highly regulated so you may not be able to make specific health claims. Next, I think you should look at a three pronged approach that is scalable: 1. Continue to develop your local market, treating it like a test kitchen. Work on new recipes, concepts, products, ideas and test them locally. Build a unique product line and a unique system for creating those products. 2. Develop a strong network of pet owners, pet shops, boutiques, organizations and so on. 3. Market your dog cupcake system and sell it as a turnkey package. This could be as simple or as fancy as you want to make it. The simple way would be to sell one time "starter package" with upgrades on a subscription model. This would include order forms, marketing plans, marketing materials, new product ideas, training videos, shopping lists, ingredients and so on. The expensive way would be to lawyer up and create an actual franchise but this can be very very expensive. I hope this was helpful and I'd be happy to work with you further on developing your business. Good luck and I look forward to buying Sadie, Charlie, Nixie and Sachi some tasty treats from you in the near future!

I would pick up the phone. I think actually speaking with the decision-maker will illuminate how to reach them at scale, objections, and other things you need to know.

Yes, it is possible to sell t-shirts through Instagram direct messages (DMs). I'd recommend using an online payment processor such as Stripe (https://stripe.com/), so you can accept orders and track your revenue. As your business grows, consider using an e-commerce platform like Shopify (https://shopify.com), so you can reach more people.

We've used MeetingBurner with success for our webinars. The price point for a large audience is not too high. It also has recording and automated webinar capabilities.