Kevin, the answer to the tyranny of distance (from one who has taken it to an extreme ;-) ) is to telecommute.
Key technologies are VPN, Webex and Asterisk or similar VOIP service.
Tracy H described a VPN/Cisco mechanism that allows her to be part of the office network. We've done that for 7 years. Works beautifully. You can load and save files off the server, collect email etc etc with the internet leg heavily encrypted. Also, introduce the firm to
www.trixbox.org if they haven't already got a Cisco or similar VOIP system. From the phone on your desk at home you can dial office extensions as if you're right there in the office and your extension will follow you around. That's cheaper than diverting calls to your cellphone and the savings from using VOIP dialing are amazing- probably enough to pay for a SWFox registration. ;-)
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
