There's some coworkers of mine like that. They report to someone remotely, or they're responsible for a team that is entirely remote from them. Your metrics for success have to be a lot more thought out, and there's always frequent interaction between you and your manager. It's not for everyone, but generally the people that are on these remote teams aren't new hires, but rather experienced people that have proven their ability to execute over time. They're normally on the teams investigating organizational pain points and doing strategic initiatives.
I'd like to think "pretty far" but it definitely depends on the organization. For freelancing, you might have to put in a bit of face time, but nothing's stopping you from charging very high rates and doing part of the work remotely.