I'm not sure which jurisdictions you are thinking of. Most places I have lived allowed small business from the home. It was more of an insurance and licensing issue than zoning, which are also solvable problems. Even if you do need a zoning change, it doesn't need to be a change to your entire city... just to your property. So talk to your city planner/council, submit a plan, and move forward.

Now, if you are talking about building entire factories next to your home, and changing a residential neighborhood to allow industrial, yes, that would be hard. And unwise on multiple levels. In those cases, again, talk to your city - you may be able to reverse the plan to get a residence allowed in an industrial area.

Really, most cities want to encourage business within them... you just need to be willing to make some calls, listen to feedback on your plans to be sure it doesn't negatively impact the neighbors, and do some paperwork.