{"id":26481,"date":"2025-07-21T16:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/26481\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T16:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:20:09","slug":"beyond-business-osu-finance-instructor-bansal-helps-11-year-old-son-publish-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/26481\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Business: OSU finance instructor Bansal helps 11-year-old son publish book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, July 21, 2025<\/p>\n

Media Contact:
\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHallie Hart | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | hallie.hart@okstate.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Amit Bansal encourages fellow parents to teach their children basic financial concepts
\n through fun, kid-friendly projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The classic example of a lemonade stand comes to mind for Bansal, an instructor of
\n professional practice in Oklahoma State University\u2019s Department of Finance and expert
\n on personal finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery business skill requires a lot of hand-holding \u2014\u00a0showing them how the business is run, counting money, doing the transaction, giving
\n customers change,\u201d Bansal said. \u201cIt inspires kids. The whole purpose is to give them
\n a taste of entrepreneurship very early on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bansal\u2019s 11-year-old son, Shivam, is a budding entrepreneur, but he\u2019s not selling
\n lemonade.<\/p>\n

Instead, he\u2019s promoting his debut novel, \u201cSecret of the Dragons.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A“Secret of the Dragons” is a product of Shivam Bansal’s imagination. An original coloring
\n book accompanies the novel.<\/p>\n

With his parents\u2019 steadfast support, Shivam became a published author before graduating
\n from fifth grade this past spring. An introduction to business is one bonus of his
\n endeavor, but it\u2019s not the reason he writes.<\/p>\n

Shivam loves to use his imagination, and Bansal has nurtured his son\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already have all the inspiration,\u201d Shivam said. \u201cI just write whenever I feel like
\n writing it. I just started Chapter 7 of the second book.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this rate, the sequel might be complete by the time you\u2019re reading this article.<\/p>\n

Shivam has brainstormed an entire series, The Dragonlands, which is set to contain
\n 20 books. His fantastical saga involves two adventurous brothers, iconic mythical
\n creatures and nature\u2019s elemental powers, such as wind, water and fire.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite different from his father\u2019s writing, which frequently appears as practical
\n advice on the website of WalletHub<\/a>, a personal finance company.<\/p>\n

The dragons in Shivam\u2019s book aren\u2019t exactly preoccupied with savings or checking accounts,
\n but the child\u2019s writing reflects his father\u2019s influence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an educator, Bansal introduced his son to literature.<\/p>\n

Bansal, who holds an MBA and a master\u2019s degree in electrical engineering from OSU,
\n is a longtime supporter of public libraries. When he borrowed books, he often shared
\n the stories with his son, reading aloud from the time Shivam was an infant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept on reading and reading and reading,\u201d Bansal said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After hearing so many tales, Shivam began to see stories in the world around him.
\n Any action figure or block tower could have an elaborate, fictional backstory, and
\n Shivam wanted to write about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noticing Shivam\u2019s knack for storytelling, Bansal gave his son a laptop. About two
\n years ago, Shivam started typing the draft that grew into \u201cSecret of the Dragons.\u201d<\/p>\n

His parents kept believing in his vision. Bansal guided Shivam through the publishing
\n process, teaching a valuable business lesson along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI took him to the bookstores,\u201d Bansal said. \u201cI said, \u2018OK, listen how we do a contract,\u2019
\n so he\u2019s seeing everything when he\u2019s coming with me \u2014\u00a0how things are sold in the bookstore, supply, sales channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

They marketed the novel to Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City. Bliss Books and
\n Bindery in Stillwater also sold copies, and the 139-page paperback novel is available
\n on Amazon.<\/p>\n

As word spread in the community, several Spears Business faculty and staff bought
\n the book. Shivam\u2019s friends from school showed support, too. The young author exudes
\n joy when he talks to them about his literary ideas.<\/p>\n

The novel\u2019s description on Amazon includes a brief author biography.<\/p>\n

The final paragraph: \u201cShivam hopes his work inspires other kids to write their own stories, explore their
\n creativity and believe that age is never a limit when it comes to following your passion.
\n His dream is to continue growing The Dragonlands series and share more magical tales
\n with readers around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shivam has shown his father the power of creativity, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If parents want to teach their kids about entrepreneurship, there\u2019s nothing wrong
\n with thinking outside the box \u2014\u00a0or, outside the lemonade stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, they see this is a doable project, even if it\u2019s just starting small,\u201d Bansal
\n said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The personal finance expert also looked at his son\u2019s achievement through the eyes
\n of a proud dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great inspiration,\u201d Bansal said.<\/p>\n

Do you know a Spears Business faculty or staff member with a Beyond Business story
\n to highlight? Share your ideas with Communications Coordinator Hallie Hart at hallie.hart@okstate.edu<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday, July 21, 2025 Media Contact: Hallie Hart | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | hallie.hart@okstate.edu Amit Bansal encourages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-26481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}