Quick answer: If your spending leans toward office supplies, internet, phone, and cable bills, the Ink Business Cash’s 5% category bonus (up to $25,000/year combined) will outearn the flat-rate cards. If your spending is scattered across categories with no clean pattern, the Ink Business Unlimited’s flat 1.5% on everything is simpler and just as strong. Either way, you don’t need an LLC, an EIN, or even a formal business name — a genuine side income, reported honestly, is enough to apply.
You Don’t Need an LLC. You Need a Real Side Activity.
This is the part that stops most people before they even try. A sole proprietorship isn’t a status you file for at a state office — it’s the default legal classification the moment you earn money outside a W-2 job, and it exists automatically whether or not you’ve ever called yourself “a business owner.”
Chase’s own application guidance for its business cards confirms sole proprietors, freelancers, independent contractors, and gig workers can apply using their legal name as the business name and their Social Security number in place of an EIN. The application will accept $0 in reported annual revenue for a business that just started, and there’s no minimum revenue threshold to clear.
What counts: selling on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, driving for a rideshare app, freelance writing or design work, tutoring, pet-sitting, reselling sneakers or thrifted goods, renting out a spare room, mowing lawns, walking dogs. If you’re honestly trying to earn money from an activity — even inconsistently, even in small amounts — it’s a legitimate basis for a sole proprietor application. You’re not required to have a website, a logo, or a single employee.
Matching Your Spending to the Right Card
Ink Business Cash makes sense if a meaningful share of your spending already falls into its bonus categories: office supply stores, internet, cable, phone service, plus gas stations and restaurants at a lower rate. The $25,000 annual cap on the 5% categories is generous for most side-hustle-level spending, and there’s no annual fee.
Ink Business Unlimited is the better fit if your spending doesn’t cluster into those categories — say, most of your business costs are software subscriptions, shipping, or ad spend that doesn’t fit neatly into “office supply.” A flat 1.5% on everything, with no annual fee and nothing to track, is easier to manage and still earns solidly.
Ink Business Preferred, at $95/year, is worth considering once your side income has grown enough that the 3x categories — shipping, social and search advertising, travel, and internet/cable/phone — represent real spending, since it earns full transferable Ultimate Rewards points on its own rather than needing to be paired with another card.
The One Restriction That Actually Matters Now
As of November 2025, Chase treats the two no-annual-fee Ink cards — Cash and Unlimited — as a single family for welcome bonus purposes. If you’ve ever earned a bonus on one, you’re not eligible for a bonus on the other. That makes the order you apply in matter: pick whichever no-fee card better matches your spending pattern and apply for that one first, since it’s your only shot at the no-fee tier’s bonus. The Preferred and Premier remain separate lifetime opportunities regardless of what you do with the no-fee cards.
Approval Still Comes Down to Your Personal Credit
None of this bypasses underwriting. Chase evaluates Ink applications primarily on your personal credit profile and your Chase 5/24 status — you need to already be under 5/24 to get approved, even though the Ink approval itself won’t count against future personal card applications. The size or age of your side business doesn’t factor in the way people assume; a $200/month freelance gig and an established side business are evaluated on the same personal-credit basis.
If you’re weighing an Ink application as part of a broader plan for getting Chase welcome bonuses again after already collecting most of Chase’s personal-card bonuses, see our full guide for how Ink fits alongside Sapphire and Southwest in the right order.
Disclaimer: The information on RawCents is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Always consult a qualified financial professional before making decisions about your money. Card terms, bonus amounts, and eligibility rules are set by the issuer and subject to change without notice.