The insurance industry consists of financial advisors planning for individual’s financial future through defensive investments that will payout in case of something happening to a person’s greatest asset—themselves. Each financial advisor is mandated to pass a professional exam to receive their license in order to take in clients in each state. There is a process in which clients are serviced and sold on different products of insurance. Advisors need to consider client needs and service them with products are in their best interest and within financial reason. <br/> To sell a product you must have clients, and the way that financial advisor receive clients are generally through two ways: company provided or their own connections. At the end of the day, the goal is to get in front of more people and expand you circle. In that sense, there are two common way people address this expansion of circles and that is build relationships versus networking. The goal of this paper is to dive deep in the insurance industry and analyze the sales process when comparing the difference in selling through building relationships versus selling through networking.<br/> The research plan I have in mind start from researching background and history, to current practices environment, to method process solutions. In the initial stages of my research, I will focus on background and history of the financial services industry in terms of sales and insurance. This will address insurance sales processes in the financial services industry and its features as well as benefits. After explaining the step by step process and potential results of the sales process in the insurance industry, I will start researching current environments of the industry. This will explain the history, key theoretical elements, and significant events of the industry. <br/> The history of the background will set stage for me to address situational challenges in the business based on my own experience to which I will do research to find plausible sales process solutions when comparing relationship sales to networking sales. This research will then be synthesized with my own experimental solutions as I work in the industry, which will help me complete chapter 4 and 5 of my theses – Methods and Execution of Results.

Excavating Self was created between January and April 2023 and is comprised of two series and other additional works. It starts and ends with a set of self portraits that reflect on the experience before and after creating this body of work. The first series, On Sacrifice, draws on experiences from a previous relationship, the feelings surrounding them, and the emotional fallout of the breakup. The second series, Juntos, explores relationships with family, past and current loves, and the way these relationships shape understanding of identity. The remaining pieces focus on topics such as ancestry, gender expression, and sexuality. Other central themes include self discovery, preserving memory, and love in all of its multiple truths. All pieces were created using intaglio printmaking techniques with hand written text.

The human experience is driven by the desire for intimacy through interpersonal relationships, and one group in which this desire comes to fruition is the legally binding union of marriage. Through a literature review on the history of marriage, it is evident that the primary motivator for people to marry has changed over time, making the structure of marriage an evolving relationship on a societal and personal level. Shifting from economics to social class to religion, the motivating need for marriage in Western, 21st century society has now become a desire for happiness. Given this, this project is a synthesis of different psychological and sociological theories and studies that provide the key correlates of marriage satisfaction within individual differences, relational processes, and external context. Being happy together within a legally binding relationship is not always an easy task, but with the right knowledge on what truly correlates towards higher marital satisfaction, it is possible for couples to learn what can help them thrive.