In summary, one can say that there are definitely alternatives. Certainly, it is handled differently from community to community.
A business is a business. You register it and then you are a business owner. Even a small Ebay seller is a business owner.
With that, you can shop at Metro, lease a car under commercial conditions, which is of course significantly cheaper than private leasing. And you can build a nice little house in the commercial area. That will then be approved by the community, or not.
You can save a lot of money on purchasing land and either build a bigger and better house or, for many, it provides an opportunity to build at all.
There is nothing stopping anyone from building a small commercial hall and then renting it out. Maybe for motorhomes or boats.
Add a photovoltaic system on the hall, and the thing is complete.