MOST small business owners in Australia pay staff members more than they earn themselves, a recent survey has found.

Released by the Gold Coast-based Results in Business Institute, the national poll of small businesses found 63.6 per cent of business owners surveyed employ a staff member who takes home more pay in the hand each week than they do.

Alarmingly, 61.3 per cent of small business owners don't believe their take-home salary justifies the hours and effort they spend running their business.

"The results are obviously quite concerning and reflect the enormous pressure on business owners employing staff to pay high wages - especially in a marketplace where low unemployment means it is more difficult to find and retain good staff," says the institute's chief executive, Ross Hancock.

"For more than two-thirds of (business) owners, it seems that being in business is anything but lucrative when they have employees earning more than they do,"
he says.

The survey found 42.4 per cent of business owners hold some form of tertiary qualification and 50 per cent have spent money on business or personal, self development and improvement courses. However, 56.8 per cent of respondents say they are not satisfied with or have not received a commercially acceptable return on their investment.

They identified their main areas of concern as finding and retaining good staff (45.5 per cent) and bureaucratic red tape (12.8 per cent). Cash-flow difficulties, finding new clients and marketing were also high on the list of concerns.

"The results are symptomatic of the many problems facing small businesses, but it's not until a large number of businesses are surveyed and the results collated that the big picture becomes evident," says Mr Hancock.

"We are in a strong economy, but many small business owners are not really reaping the fruits of their labours when they have to factor in the high costs of just being in business, such as spiralling rents and expenses."