No need to feel silly - I didn’t get it early on either, and in fact ditched a pear I had successfully t-budded to because I thought it hadn’t worked!
Here’s @Fruitnut’s tutorial: T-budding tutorial
When you go through the photos he showed you’ll see on the next to the last photo he tells you when to cut off the stock above the t-bud; that’s forcing the bud. Until the growth above the bud is removed the hormones from above the bud will suppress it. Once that top growth goes there’s nothing to stop it from sprouting. (Although sometimes they just sulk anyway and stay dormant regardless.)
So Lucky’s question about forcing the bud was more about timing, because it’s nice to force it early enough that the new growth toughens up and is strong before winter sets in. If you can’t force it early enough you can leave it until spring and force it then.