I MOVED to Salisbury (for the second time in 10 years) about four years ago, and when I returned I knew just one person.

When I lived in the city previously I was an army wife, and when I came back my network of army friends had all moved on, along with their partners, to new postings.

The past four years, although no longer an army wife, I have seen the similarities between army life and the Salisbury business community. There was a huge community in the army wife world, and it was not dissimilar to a local networking world - if you were ‘in’ then people were more than happy to support you.

No matter who you spoke to when on a new posting, someone knew someone you knew, or maybe you were posted to a patch that already had people you had met only two posting before.

There were different groups of wives who you could socialise with; again no different from the Salisbury networking groups.

The army wives consisted of colonels’ wives (they ran the patch), the majors’ wives (these often organised the pot luck dinners/fun nights out), and the captains’ wives (I was one of these wives – we were in the delicate position of being a newbie in most places, and not necessarily ‘in’ with the networking scene yet).

I liken this scenario to the Salisbury networking scene. You have those who have a huge say in how Salisbury functions (the colonels).

You have those who do a lot of networking, organising and PR for Salisbury (the majors) and then those on the periphery, who are trying very hard to break into the Salisbury business scene, some of whom get accepted and some of whom just keep themselves to themselves (the captains).

The lesson I learned while serving as an army wife was the more I networked with the majors’ and colonels’ wives the easier my life became. I had a network I could call on if I needed advice and help, and someone to point me in the right direction.

Although daunting when I first joined the army wives’ clan, the more effort I put in, the easier the networking became.

And this is where the similarities continue with the Salisbury networking scene. There are different cliques; there are groups of people and you have to work hard at getting to know them; you have to network, network, network.

But the four years’ hard graft I have put in to Salisbury and its business community has paid off.

Networking is easier, people are friendly and more business is done. So my suggestion would be to ask around, find out who the colonels and majors are in the city and start getting to know them.

Running a business in Salisbury is no different to being an army wife. The army and the Salisbury business community function in the same way. It’s not surprising really - Salisbury is a military city