Best Small Business Credit Cards for Aromatherapy Businesses

Depending on your business’s expenses and cash flow, you should be able to use the different reward systems strategically to maximize the benefit to your bottom line.

These are the top three cards available right now for aromatherapy businesses. If you know your credit isn't stellar, check out our Top 4 Cards For Building Credit.

Building Business Credit

If you have little or no credit history, you should start building credit for your business as soon as possible. If you build credit now, you will be able to access additional financing in the future. Once you have an established credit history, you can expand your aromatherapy business by using your line of credit to purchase essential business items and eventually bring in more revenue.

Starter credit cards are ideal for building business credit over time. But keep in mind that if you’re interested in a secured card, you’ll have to put down some form of collateral, typically a cash deposit, in order to start building credit. Then once you have a credit score of 620 or better, you can get an unsecured credit card to complete your business purchases.

Cash Back Rewards

A cash back card offers business owners a flat rate of cash back for every purchase they make with their card. You can use your cash back rewards card to purchase a variety of things for your aromatherapy business, including new inventory, retail equipment, and even utilities. Most cards offer 2% cash back rates. So, if you spend $50,000 over the course of the year, you’ll get $1,000 back.

You can also get business credit cards that offer higher rates of cash back for specific types of purchases, such as office supplies and travel. If you find that you spend more money each month on office supplies, look for a card that offers higher cash back rates for these recurring business purchases.

0% Introductory Rate

To serve more clients with your aromatherapy business, you will eventually need to make some larger purchases. You’ll need to update your equipment over time, purchase advertising, and real estate as well. You can use a credit card with a 0% APR introductory offer to buy important business items now and then pay the balance off after your aromatherapy business starts to bring in more revenue.

Typically, 0% APR credit cards feature a 12-month intro period with interest-free financing. To give yourself enough time to pay your card balance off, choose a card that has an interest-free introductory period that you feel comfortable with. That way, you can avoid accruing interest on your big-ticket purchases.

Cards For Multiple Uses

Most businesses start with one card that fits their largest need and transfer most or all of their expenses to that card. Once you get to a certain size, however, it may make sense to have different cards with specific rewards programs catering to the different types of expenses you have. Most larger businesses use multiple cards to optimize for rewards.

Remember, you aren't limited to just one credit card, just be careful not to overextend yourself for unnecessary purposes.

Unless your business has a positive credit history of its own, your eligibility will be based on your personal credit rating. If you have a new or existing business that has never had a credit card or loan before, it’s likely that your business has no credit history.

Since your personal credit will be measured when you apply for a business credit card, it’s wise to have a good idea of what your credit score is.

If you don’t know your credit score, check out our article: How To Find Your Credit Score.

Once you have your score you can make a decision on which card to apply for. If you have good, great, or excellent credit, then go for one of the cards at the top of this article! If your credit isn’t quite there yet, check out our article: What Business Credit Card Can I Get With My Credit Score?

The great thing about credit scores is that they can be improved over time! We have a great article on the Best Business Credit Cards To Build Credit.

A rejected credit application can have a negative effect on your credit score, so act with responsibility and make careful decisions when deciding to apply.

There are many reasons why a company would want to have a business credit card. Depending on the type of business you operate, the strategies you employ may be different than one another, but we will describe the basic benefits of small business credit cards.

Separates Personal And Business Expenses

No matter the size of your company, you should keep all of your business finances separate from your personal finances. This means paying any bills you have in the business from a business account and paying for all personal expenses from a personal account.

This separation accomplishes two main tasks:

• Simplified Accounting - Keeping your accounts separate will allow you to fully understand the numbers of your business. If you have personal dollars in a business bank account or vice versa, it will be more difficult to understand how much you are spending, how much your revenue is, and therefore, your bottom line.
• Prevents Commingling - Commingling funds is one of the most basic and damaging errors a small business can make. Separating your funds, along with operating your business in a structure such as an LLC, will create your corporate veil. A corporate veil works to keep your personal assets safe if your business is ever sued.

There should never be a reason to mix your business and personal money, even if you run a small sole-proprietorship. The risks are too great, and there are no benefits.

Before you get a small business credit card, if you haven’t opened a business checking account for your company, you should do that right now.

Smooths Inconsistent Cash Flow

Some businesses, such as those with long sales cycles, can often go a few months without revenue, then see a large spike when a sale is finalized.

While it’s exciting to see large numbers come in all at once, it can be stressful in the meantime to pay bills, salaries, and other expenses with little to no income.

Credit cards offer business owners the ability to spend money that they haven’t made yet, capitalizing on future sales right now.

While you absolutely need to be careful about spending money you don’t have, this is a method that businesses can use to keep the doors open between sales cycles.

Credit Card Rewards

There are two main types of business credit card rewards: cash back and travel rewards.

Cash Back Rewards

There are multiple ways a small business can get the most out of cash back rewards programs.

For each dollar that your small business spends with these credit cards, you can get some money back. Some cards even have higher rates for specific purchases.

For example, businesses that do a lot of road travel can maximize their driving costs with a card that offers cash back on gas purchases.

Other businesses may require a lot of office supplies and can find a cash back or points program that rewards them for these costs or others like telecommunications, advertising, shipping, and more.

Finally, most cash back cards offer a flat percentage rate back on general purchases.

Travel Rewards

On the other hand, businesses that fly to visit conferences, do on-site visits with clients, or any other activities that usually involve airline trips or hotel stays can benefit from general or brand-specific travel rewards.

These usually come in the form of points or mileage rewards, where for every dollar you spend, mile you fly, night you stay, or any other qualifying action you take, you’ll get rewarded. These build up and can be spent on upgrades, free nights and flights, and more.

Finally, there are typically premium versions of these cards that cost more in terms of annual fees but have more luxurious rewards such as access to airport lounges, events, and activities most people wouldn’t have access to.