We are an independent publisher. Our reporters create honest, accurate, and objective content to help you make decisions. To support our work, we are paid for providing advertising services. Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Next” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. The compensation we receive and other factors, such as your location, may impact what ads and links appear on our site, and how, where, and in what order ads and links appear. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, our site does not include information about every product or service that may be available to you. We strive to keep our information accurate and up-to-date, but some information may not be current. So, your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms on this site. And the advertised offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser. All information is presented without any warranty or guarantee to you.

This page may include: credit card ads that we may be paid for (“advertiser listing”); and general information about credit card products (“editorial content”). Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Apply Now” button or “Learn More” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. When you click on that hyperlink or button, you may be directed to the credit card issuer’s website where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer. Each advertiser is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its ad offer details, but we attempt to verify those offer details. We have partnerships with advertisers such as Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Discover. We also include editorial content to educate consumers about financial products and services. Some of that content may also contain ads, including links to advertisers’ sites, and we may be paid on those ads or links.

For more information, please see How we make money.

Reader Ruby’s Simple Business Earns Her Rewards That Let Her Hop the Globe!

  • Million Mile Secrets

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

    Welcome to the next installment of our Small Business Card Reader Success Series, where Million Mile Secrets readers share how they opened a small business credit card to get Big Travel with Small Money! 

    Small Business Card Interview:   Ruby

    Ruby and Her Husband Peter Over Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro

    A big thank you to Ruby for sharing her story!

    Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your small business.

    I’m Ruby and together with my husband, Peter, we own a rental property as well as a spare room in our house that we Airbnb.  On top of that, we are also travel and personal finance bloggers.  We try to keep our small businesses separate from our personal lives, so we mostly use the small business cards to isolate things out and just utilize the points we get from it.

    Taking a Break on the Malecon While Exploring Havana

    Why did you decide on the card(s) you chose?

    We decided on the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express because we love staying in Starwood hotels, and the lounge access is a big perk that is connected to the card.  It has the same $95 annual fee as the personal card (See Rates & Fees), so why not, if we’re going to use it for our travels.

    From Chase, we decided to get the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card.  Once you reach a certain number of points, you’ll get the Southwest Companion Pass, which is also helpful for our personal travels because we only need to buy a ticket for 1 person (mostly Peter) and I can fly just by paying the taxes & fees.

    Hiking in Denali National Park in Alaska

    Describe the application. ex. Did you apply as a sole proprietor with your social security number or some other way?

    All the business cards are under my husband’s name.  He used his Social Security Number to apply for the cards because our small businesses are also under his personal name.  We were honest in our income and the number of employees that our small business hires (a grand total of 2 – me and him).

    Approximately how much annual small business income did you list on your application? (Or if you’re not comfortable sharing that, which factors do you think lead to your applications being approved?)

    We listed an estimate of what we are earning (around $10,000) – we put in our gross earnings, with a small buffer to include any vacancies that we have (since our business is real estate rentals).  We’re still trying to earn some money off our blog, so that will have to be another thing altogether!

    Admiring Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC

    What would you tell someone who’s never applied for a small business card?

    Make sure you do have a legitimate business (i.e. selling on the side or rentals, or even your blog) and that you are earning some cash out of your small business.  You don’t want to lie to these credit card companies now that they’re getting more stringent when it comes to giving you credit.

    Now the fun part!  How do you plan to use your miles or points to get Big Travel with Small Money? 🙂

    We plan to travel a lot more!  Through our points and miles, we have been to several islands in the Caribbean, to Europe, back home to the Philippines, and a lot more!  We just stockpile them up and whenever there’s a great redemption, that is our next travel destination!

    Hiking by the Shores of Bray, Ireland

    Want to Share Your Story?

    If you’d like to share your small business card success, please send me a note!  Emily and I would love to hear about how it went for you!

    For rates and fees of the SPG Business card, please click here.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)