What To Do If You Want to Start Business Credit
If looking to establish business credit with a business that you've already established, I would recommend the following:
Get an Account on Nav.com (free or paid)
Establish a free (or paid) account on Nav.com , and be sure to use the desktop version of it rather than the mobile version of it. It will give you a better idea of your chances of approval on various credit card applications. With most similar websites, they only give chances on personal credit cards, while Nav does both credit cards that are business cards and credit cards that are personal cards as long as you're on the desktop view. It also gives you an option to track your business credit score. If you want to establish credit right off the bat with your business for the first time, there is an option with Nav for that as well, but it's a paid option and it's typically not difficult to establish business credit through other means at lower costs, i.e. via business credit cards.
Track Your Personal Credit for Free
Know exactly where to look to (ideally freely) track your personal credit as well, including but not limited to Experian.com . Your personal credit will often be pulled in association with small business credit cards and can be a major factor on approval of cards. For additional places to go to get a legit score for free, with many Vantage scores (aka Faco scores) out there that are unreliable for considering applications (i.e. Creditkarma), go to https://www.adamspoints.com/post/where-can-i-get-my-free-credit-score It's best to have free locations at least once per month telling you your legitimate Fico score for Transunion, Equifax, and Experian with a score range that is capped at 850.
Boost Your Personal Credit if Below 740 Before Business Applications
Learn how to boost your personal credit score and ideally do so prior to applications for business credit cards if your current scores on accurate websites (i.e. Experian.com) are below 740. Keep in mind that often websites paid for by advertisers that are intended to help you with your credit (i.e. Creditkarma) will give you some good but some bad advice on credit; often additional loans or credit cards that may be advertised are not your best bet because they don't factor enough personalized elements into the advertising algorithms and because the best cards or loans probably aren't paying them to advertise on their site so might never come up.
If you're not able to get above 740, it's likely that there will still be options for you in business credit, but it's best to at least attempt to boost it as much as you can before your first business credit application.
Know the Difference Between Corporate Cards and Small Business Cards.
Generally speaking, corporate cards are lower liability and meant for larger corporations, while small business cards have higher personal liability on the applicant, but also significantly higher rewards possible.
Document Your Goals, Situation, & Current/Projected Spending To Help Know Which Cards Will be Best.
When people are pursuing credit cards some pursue sign up bonuses, some pursue ongoing spending, and some like myself pursue some geared more towards consideration of both ends of the spectrum. Which cards will be best for you really depends on a number of factors, such as what you're currently spending on (amounts and categories), what you project that you will be spending on, where you're located, where you'd like to travel if you'll be using credit card spend for travel, etc.
Do Some Online Research & Establish More Online Accounts Without Establishing Any Credit Cards or Loans
Budgeting, i.e. a free account with Mint.com
Tracking your points and certificates, i.e. a free account with https://awardwallet.com/
Business loans, i.e. https://www.nerdwallet.com/small-business-loans
Business lines of credit, i.e. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business-loans/best-business-lines-of-credit/
Get a Professional Consultation
After you've done some DIY work and learned a lot from that research, get a professional consultation before you start applying for cards (even if you do get some preapprovals with no hard credit inquiry prior to the consultation). That way a consultation will be more productive and the time required will be lower than it would be if you went into it not knowing much, reducing the fees involved for you.
If you'd like to go through things further in a consultation, with my specialties (though I don't have any professional certifications in these fields) being credit cards, budgeting, and credit. There are certain matters that are beyond the scope of what I'll do with credit, such as referring you to others if you want to try to remove a paid-off collection. If your primary goal is to simply improve your credit, you'd be better off likely getting a consultation with someone else who has capabilities like that & who specializes in credit improvement. My top specialty is helping others to choose the right credit cards based on their situation & maximizing rewards value from that spending in terms of redemption options. I've been doing that on a recurring basis for years (including travel bookings) for my real estate firm of over 100 agents where I've taken an already solid points-earning strategy of the company to the next level. Here is more information including my fees:
https://www.adamspoints.com/post/credit-card-consultation-with-adam-garrett
In some cases, there are non-profits available to help you with credit and budgeting, especially if you are low-income where my fees could make less sense. In that case, go to my page on budgeting as well as some online (& local if you're in SE VA) resources on the subject at the bottom of the page. For more self-help tips on credit, go to my page on the subject here.