I'm not the only person who left a successful corporate career early to be his own boss. There was (and continues to be) a whole movement of executives and professionals who strike out on their own, wanting to make their own decisions and see if they have the right stuff to make it. The result of this trend was that corporate minds started to think about "how can we keep our best people?" Sometimes independence and freedom to make your own choices is more important than that number on your paycheck.
So big business started getting a lot more flexible with hours, with working at home, with "casual Friday" - and with people taking leave-of-absence to pursue other important things in their lives. Everybody wins in a situation like this, when the people in charge listen and figure out how to make it work for them. People work better when they're happy.
When you are your own boss, you work harder and have more to worry about - nobody's going to make those payroll checks good except me! As my own boss, I can make time to follow "my other career" in community and political involvement. You can't put a price tag on the value of that kind of independence.
I think that the way people work is changing, and for the better.