What Gets In Your Way When Starting An Industrial Business?

Originally Published: January 6, 2026

Industrial businesses are very broadly defined, but you can narrow them down to any company that focuses on creating or processing raw materials into newly formed components or products. For example a company that builds car parts and a company that processes food substances are both seen as industrial. 

These types of businesses often become some of the largest and most profitable in the world because other companies rely on their services. If you start a “normal” business that sells clothing, you tend to partner with an industrial company that makes your clothing items for you. It’s evident that an industrial business carries a lot of potential – but what can get in your way when setting one up? 

Incredibly High Startup Costs

Before you even think about growing your business, you need to deal with extensive startup costs. Industrial companies will have some of the highest initial costs because you need lots of expensive things to set it up, such as: 

• Advanced machinery and tools
• Industrial equipment
• A large industrial space – like a warehouse or plant
• Safety equipment and technology
• Employees

This will (understandably) put more pressure on your funding – you need to raise enough money to pay for all of this stuff so you can set the wheels in motion. Industrial businesses aren’t the type you can start at home or with minimal investment, so keep that in mind. 

Health, Safety & Regulatory Requirements

Running an industrial business means you have to follow a flood of regulations depending on your chosen sector. This will dictate many aspects of your business, including health & safety. Prepare to invest in process hazard consulting, regular safety inspections, and much more. This is an ongoing barrier that can eat away at your finances or cause serious harm to your business. 

For instance, if you’re found guilty of breaking health & safety laws or not following industry regulations, your entire company could be shut down. Even if it isn’t, your reputation may be tarnished to the point that nobody wants to work with you. 

Picking An Ideal Location

For a business such as this, your location truly matters. You need to be in a setting that helps you operate an industrial business, but you also need to have things like: 

• Excellent transport access for distribution
• Great utility lines
• Close proximity to businesses that may use your services

You can have all the right things in place, but a bad location can break everything for an industrial business. Why would companies use you as a provider if you’re located in a remote place? It makes distribution harder and more expensive, pricing you out of any real competition with rivals. 

As you can see, running an industrial business presents some unique concerns that you don’t normally think about. It’s definitely a high-cost, high-reward type of business – and it won’t be for everyone. Take a lot of time to consider the barriers standing in your way and determine if it’s worth proceeding. For some of you, this article is enough to make you recognize that an industrial business isn’t the right way forward after all. 

Want to Learn More? How about a Free 30-minute Consult with Ascend?

Schedule Your Free Consultation Now!

Special thanks to the following source(s) for the image(s) used in this article:

• Image Credit

DISCLAIMER: This is an affiliate article. We post affiliate articles with the intent of helping you grow. They are not written, researched, or necessarily endorsed by our team. They are simply content submitted to us by what appears to be respectable affiliate sources, people, and organizations, which upon initial review, seem solid and helpful to our community, so we post them. It is up to you to personally verify the facts, links, organizations mentioned, the validity of the information presented, and any/all claims made in the article(s). To report an issue with any of the information, links, or organizations mentioned in this, or any content posted on our website, or if you simply have a question or need something we can help you with, please contact us now.