The $300 telecommuter challenge

"No man is an island," John Donne famously wrote--but Donne predated the era of telecommuting by almost four centuries. As someone who lives on the other side of the country from most of my colleagues, I spend almost all my time working from home or the comfort of a coffee shop. And while I'm not exactly an island, I do have to be a self-sufficient outpost, equipped to work as effectively as if I were just sitting down the hall from my boss.