Read this at Jim Roepcke’s blog:
” There are different degrees of freedom in a home-office environment. There’s working at home, working at home with flexible hours, being self employed, and being self-employed with flexible hours. Some of the benefits are exclusive to different degrees of freedom, some are easier at different degrees of freedom, and some aren’t possible.
I’ve worked in all these situations, so I’ve seen the whole gammit of good, great, and freakin’-awesome telecommuting scenarios.

No commute. Wearing whatever you want while you work. (Maybe nothing :-)) The extra sleep you get by not having to commute and pretty yourself up, or, the extra amount of time you get to work by not having to commute and pretty yourself up.

Your (hopefully comfortable) desk. Your (hopefully comfortable) chair. No cube walls. Your decor. When the phone rings it’s for you or your spouse/friend. It’s oh so quiet… or, maybe LOUD because you’re listening to you’re favourite music that the person in the cube next to you didn’t like, booming with the subwoofer turned up, or you’ve got CBC/BBC/NPR Radio going in the background.

No pressure to go out to lunch. You can eat whenever you want. Drink whatever you want. Hopefully not alchohol, but you’re an adult, be responsible.

Working your own hours. Some people work better in the evening. Some people work better at 2AM. Some people like to work a litle bit here and there, all day long, but not for one long contiguous period of time.

Deciding to go get groceries and run to the bank at 11AM when Safeway (and your bank) is just about empty (if you have flexible hours :-)). Or, at 2PM. Noticing how beautiful a Tuesday morning it is and deciding to play a quick 9 holes of golf, or go for a jog or bike ride before starting the work day.”