Ivanka Trump's Business Advice for Women

Oct. 14, 2009— -- Ivanka Trump says success in the business world is all about confidence, a statement the estimated 11 million women across the country who are majority owners in businesses can attest to.

Trump, 27, the author of "The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life," sat down with ABC News' Cynthia McFadden and a roundtable of four businesswomen spanning three decades of experience.

The participants were Larisa Terkeltaub, a 26-year-old first-year business student at New York University's Stern School of Business; Joanna Billings, 25, a structural engineer; Gai Spann, a 41-year-old travel agency owner; and Tracey Andrews, a natural specialty foods saleswoman in her 30s.

From how to make it as an assertive woman in business to how to gain financial backing in a tough economic climate to how to get the message out, the women talked candidly about what has changed since their parents' generation and how all can have their own "trump card," even if their father isn't Donald Trump.

The first topic up for discussion was business experience. Terkeltaub asked Trump what experience is necessary to become a successful entrepreneur.

While Trump first acknowledged that experience is obviously still very important, and "you can't fake it," she then explained that the best thing the inexperienced can do to help themselves is to ask intelligent questions of those around them.

Even though Trump concedes "there's a fear that it exposes that inexperience," in reality asking advice and learning from coworkers prevents young people from making more serious mistakes.

Next to ask Trump a question was Billings, who like Trump has followed her father's path into structural engineering. She wanted to know how women can still maintain their feminine side while being aggressive and assertive enough in the workplace.

Trump said the question made her think of quote by Arianna Huffington included in her book. Huffington said, "for a man to be considered cruel, he has to be Joe McCarthy. For a woman to be considered cruel, all she has to do is put you on hold."

Although the women responded with laughter, Trump went on to say that in all seriousness the best way to be an assertive woman in the workplace is "to own it with confidence. If you don't have the confidence, you won't be free to express yourself in an honest and sincere way."