The Story Of The Journey

Eric Werny – Founder of Red Cliff Consulting, LLC

Have you ever encountered a company’s leadership description with generic statements that don’t say much? Eric Werny, the current President of Red Cliff Consulting, believes that a company’s leadership description must be accurate, engaging, and not just a collection of empty sayings. It is essential to know the people leading a company, their vision, and how they plan to achieve it. That is what makes a leadership description truly compelling and worth reading!

Eric Werny’s journey into electronics and communications began at a young age, sparked by his father’s influence. His passion for understanding radio communications blossomed at eight, leading to the thrill of receiving his first Amateur Radio license at thirteen. He built his equipment with his father’s guidance and advanced in the license class, enabling voice communications worldwide.

Then came the opportunity to serve my country, where he enlisted in the United States Navy as a Radioman and deployed to Vietnam and other areas of the world. To brag a little, he was third in a class of ninety-five classmates.

After departing the United States Navy with a background in radio communications and electronics, he was Honorably Discharged and was grateful he served his country. A well-known communications equipment manufacturer then employed him. His background in radio frequency communications and electronics earned him a professional internal rating as an engineer at the company.

After fourteen years with Eastman Kodak, the company started to lose its footing in the photographic and imaging marketplace due to intense competition, international market pressures, along with doubtful directors’ decisions. It became evident that it was time to seek other opportunities.

Now, the entrepreneurial adventure began to take shape. In 1987, he decided to venture out independently and start his own company specializing in the sales and service of communications equipment. This successful venture involved extensive travel to service a large customer base.

Then, in the year 2000, cellphone communications came to Utah, dramatically changing everything in business communications. Customers were very interested in the convenience of using a portable device to handle their communications needs. They could talk to anyone at any time all over the world. The current use of two-way radio communications became limited to fleet operation, police, fire, and EMS services.

Survival in the business world often requires drastic changes and reliance on experience to navigate new directions. The emergence of the Internet in 1996 as a tool for business communication made this shift inevitable for our company. However, adapting to this new environment was challenging, requiring a steep learning curve. A new set of operational rules came into play, and we had to rewrite our company’s objectives, goals, and business plan.

As he moved forward, the clients discovered that their office work became significantly more efficient when they switched to using computers as their primary tool, supported by a reliable network environment. During that period, he helped his clients connect their computers, printers, and interoffice connections to the Internet and set up advanced configurations. At that time, the company represented IBM, Cisco Systems, Netgear, and various other software, computer, and network equipment providers. As our customer relationships grew, our clients started asking us more complex business questions, which led us to consider developing our consulting services.

As customer relationships developed, his clients started posing more complex business questions, which led to considering developing our consulting services.

This is when Eric Werny contacted Stanford University’s Silicon Valley Economic Development Council director, Gale Maxwell, one of the most fascinating mentors. Day after day, he mentored him. The reading assignments and written tasks were sometimes daunting. He worked together to create the step-by-step building blocks for establishing a technology-based consulting firm. Of course, other seasoned professionals assisted in the creation, such as Jack Daniel of the Jack Daniel Company, Ranco Cucamonga, Tim Anderson, Attorney of Kirton | McConkie, and Jeff Mather, current SBDC director. Many more assisted, and we are grateful to all those who helped build the company.

Today, Eric Werny is the founder and senior consultant of Red Cliff Consulting, LLC(R), author, trainer, and speaker.

The path to entrepreneurship is not without its challenges. It’s a journey of continuous learning, adaptation, and resilience. Despite setbacks and changes, successful entrepreneurs must stick to the basics and modify their plans to suit the current business objectives and climate. Education, mentorship, and a particular mindset are crucial to becoming a successful entrepreneur. It’s essential to stay updated with the challenges faced by various industries by speaking with clients and legislators, monitoring current business trends and news reports, and reading journals, books, publications, conferences, and seminars. Experience is also crucial in developing the skills necessary to navigate the sharp changes in entrepreneurship.

The journey of entrepreneurship is a continuous learning process. Our primary objective is inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to take their businesses to a realistic level of success and profitability. We believe in the power of continuous learning and adaptation in the ever-changing business landscape.

Finding the right academic, physical, and emotional tools to reach these goals is essential. However, entrepreneurs’ belief in themselves and their vision is the most crucial factor. We’ve seen many success stories; sometimes, it takes a little encouragement.

What We Believe

“Our company’s fundamental principles are honesty, compassion, humor, courage, truth, virtue, and service. We understand that active listening is crucial during the discovery process. Due diligence and clear communication are essential for our client’s success. We invite you to take a moment to communicate with us and explore how we can help you build your business into what it was “meant to be.”

(435) 652-5923

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