Two different ways of owning a business are buying a franchise and starting your own from scratch. A franchise is a grant from a business to use their ideas and business style for a fee, of course. An independently started business is self explanatory. The owner creates a business that sells whatever products or services he wants. With a franchise, the owner may only sell the products or services that the overarching company allows. However, in exchange for rigidness and a distinct lack of creativity, the mother company provides a proven recipe for success, quite literally in some cases. In contrast, the independent start-up can be as creative and flexible as the owner wants, but there is no recipe for success. To own a franchise, there are a lot of different people to pay; the land owner, the supplier, the mother company, and the employees. For a start up, there might be none, or there might be only two. Of the two forms of owning a business, both have their own pros and cons.