After 3 years of working for myself I finally got a business credit card, and it's already saved me time and money

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• After being self-employed as a freelance writer for about three years, I finally got around to opening a business credit card for my business expenses.
• After doing some research, I chose the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card to help rack up to 3x reward point per dollar on certain categories.
• Having a separate business credit card helps simplify financial housekeeping for my business, and the Ink Business Preferred comes with extra benefits such as travel protection, purchase protection, and no foreign transaction fees.

After being in business as a full-time freelance writer for about three years, I finally got around to opening a credit card to put all my small business expenses on it. After doing some research on the best business credit cards, I decided on Chase's Ink Business Preferred.

My colleagues who were accountants and CPAs told me time and time again: You should have a separate credit card for your business. Since I was an army of one and the sole employee of my content creation business, I skirted by mixing my personal and professional expenses on a personal credit card.

After doing some research, here's why I decided on the Ink Business Preferred. Besides the featured perks that come with the card, here's how having a credit card just for my work as a solopreneur has made managing my business-related finances that much simpler:

1. It's easy to use

The Ink Business Preferred is on the Visa network, which is pretty much accepted anywhere. Whether I'm at a professional conference, buying computer supplies online, or meeting with a potential client at a restaurant, I never have to worry whether my card will be accepted.

What's more, there are no foreign transaction fees. So when I go traveling overseas, I won't have to fork over the 3% foreign transaction fee that's typical of some other credit cards.

2. I get rewards points

One of the main reasons why I went with the Ink Business Preferred was because of the rewards points:

• Generous sign-up bonus offer: 80,000 bonus points if you spend $5,000 in the first three months after you open your account. If you redeem your points through Chase Ultimate Rewards, that's $1,000 in travel rewards.
• 20,000 bonus points if you refer fellow business owners to the card. You can refer up to five friends per calendar year, for up to 100,000 points. So far I've referred one colleague this year, which made for an easy boost in points.
• 3x points on qualified purchases on certain business categories (up to $150,000 within a year of your anniversary date as a cardholder): shipping; phone services, cable, internet, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines; travel.

While there's a $95 annual fee, if you spend enough on the card, and earn enough points, I find the annual fee to be worth it.

3. It offers purchase protection

Besides the points, the Ink Business Preferred comes with protection on certain purchases you make with the card. For instance, if you a big-ticket item gets damaged or stolen within 120 days after the purchase date, you can use the purchase protection. You can do this with any purchase up to $10,000, and claim a max amount of $50,000 per calendar year. Plus, it can extend the manufacturer's warranty up to three years.

4. It also offers travel protection

• Trip delay reimbursement. Besides protection for certain purchases, there's insurance to cover you for snafus during your travels. For instance, should your travel plans delayed, you'll be covered up to $500 to cover meals, overnight stays at a hotel, or transport.
• Baggage delay. And if your baggage gets delayed while you're en route, you could get reimbursed up to $100 a day up to five days for certain necessities, such as clothing and toiletries.
• Trip cancellation and trip interruption. If your trip gets cancelled or interrupted under a covered loss such as sickness or severe weather, you and your immediate family members can be covered, up to $5,000 per occurrence.

5. It makes it easier to stay on top of financial housekeeping for my business

Putting all my business-related expenses simplifies my financial housekeeping big-time. Instead of having to sync up multiple accounts to my bookkeeping software, or comb over a ton of transactions and separate my personal and professional expenses (a big no-no, by the way), everything is on a single account.

Plus, it saves time during tax season. When it comes time to file taxes for my business, while I've saved all my receipts, I can also pull up my credit card statements to review transactions. No more wading through piles of receipts, or trying to read ones where the numbers are starting to fade. A time-saver? You bet.

Here are some of the purchases I make that count as business expenses:

• Marketing-related expenses, such as web hosting
• Business-related travel
• Meals and entertainment related to business
• Professional subscriptions and memberships
• Paying contract workers
• A percentage of my cell phone bill
• Accounting and bookkeeping software
• Office supplies and equipment, such as cloud service to backup files on my computer

Putting all my business expenses on a single credit card has made managing the finances for my small business that much more simple. It's not only helped me save time and money, but avoided headaches and stress.

Learn more about the Ink Business Preferred from our partner The Points Guy »

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