China topped the poll at 76 per cent, with Sweden at a more relaxed 23 per cent.

"Pressure on cash flow is the major problem affecting businesses with heavy workloads being the next most important stress factor.

Where pressures really mount is when the owners are also husband and wife or partners living together. There is just no escape from these pressures with business owners taking home their work problems and over time the pressure becomes too great.

In many instances family-owned businesses are financed through banks with security against their family home. So when a business starts to under-perform, the pressure on an owner mounts, as not only do they worry about food on the table but also a roof over their family heads.

Business mentoring can assist the business owner see a path forward and out of trouble. But it takes time and many business owners put off getting help until its too late.

Business owners in mainland China, Vietnam, Mexico, India and Turkey were high on the stress league table and were working in environments where high growth was expected.

Stress was also particularly high at the other end of the growth scale, in Ireland, Spain and Greece – these economies are rumoured to be in difficulty nationally.

In China the pressure is on to keep up with the pace of expansion, while in Ireland the economy is retracting and business owners are worried about how they will keep their businesses alive.

In Australia, the Federal Government says the economy is headed towards boom conditions; the Australian Reserve Bank is of the same view – with a rate increase in April 2010 to slow the economy.

In the world of the small business owner it’s a different story with interest rates increasing and loans for business development very difficult to obtain. As a result Your Business Mentors are seeing their clients accounts receivables increasing and cash collection is almost becoming a full-time job.

No wonder there is stress in the world of the Small Enterprise owner!

Stress management

It's impossible to escape pressure at work altogether, so you need to learn how to manage stress effectively.

There are four basic approaches to dealing with stress:

• removing or changing the source of stress
  
• learning to change how you react to a stressful event
  
• reducing the effect stress has on your body
  
• learning alternative ways of coping

Stress management techniques aim to promote one or more of these approaches. You can learn these techniques from self-help books, attending a stress management course, or at therapy sessions run by a counsellor or psychotherapist.