Applying for My First Small Business Credit Card

This January, I applied for, and received, my first business credit card, the popular Chase Ink Business Preferred Card.

To earn the attractive bonuses of 80,000 Ultimate Rewards and others I’ll list below, the spending requirement is $5,000 in three months, and there is an annual fee of $95. I do not typically have such large business expenses, as I’m a one-woman show and I run my yoga business part-time, with no brick-and-mortar studio, but currently the time is right: I’m paying my next quarterly taxes early via this card, purchasing flights to Bali, Indonesia for my October yoga retreat, and renewing my LLC. 

So what are these great bonuses? First off, the sign-up bonus is 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points; that’s up to $1,200 dollars towards travel, flights, hotels, and more when you hit the spending requirement within three months. 

On top of that, the card offers 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in the following categories each account anniversary year (all categories that yoga business owners commonly use):

• Travel
• Shipping purchases
• Internet, cable and phone services
• Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines

The card offers 1x points per $1 on all other purchases — with no limits to the amount you can earn. Additionally, there are no foreign transaction fees – perfect if you are a yoga teacher who leads international retreats.

I definitely did my research before applying to this card. It’s been on my radar for awhile, but the time wasn’t right; spending this much money requires some advance planning and, ideally, savings to pay off those cards asap and keep your credit strong! I read guides on sites such as The Points Guy and One Mile At A Time, which agree that this is one of the best small business credit cards for which you can apply, in terms of great bonuses and a reasonable annual fee.

The yoga teacher/business owner for whom this card might not work so well: 

• Anyone who would find it difficult or impossible to meet the spending limit;
• Folks who do not spend significantly in any of the above categories;
• Anyone who does not actually have a tax ID number for their business (for example, an LLC); this information is required on the application.

It’s taken me nearly two years of part-time yoga work to grow my business to the point where this credit card even made sense. Everyone’s journey is different; for some this card may never be the right thing; for others it could make travel and business smoother and more rewarding.

If you aren’t ready for a business credit card there are still plenty of personal cards that I use that are worth getting, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Freedom Unlimited (for an in-depth comparison, I recommend visiting this article at thepointsguy.com).