I work from home, love working outside on the roof terrace in the evening, day time to bloody hot as I moved to Thailand.
When I don't work from home I work from a hotel, I travel around a bit when I feel like it.
My staff exists of VA's, they are from India but lately recruiting more in the Phillipines, they just "get it" sooner is my short term experience with Fillipino's.
I pay per task, not per hour or month although I probably do myself short that way but at least I don't have to worry whether they work fast or not.
Would love to setup an office here in Thailand but the rules here are a bit odd, for instance you can only own 49% of the company as a foreigner, I've read that will change in 2017 if I remember correctly so then I'll look into that again.