It's the 300th episode of the BusinessCast. Six years of weekly business podcasts and hosts Robert Gold and Andrew Brown are still going strong, drawing on the people who have built, grown and sold businesses to bring our listeners lessons and insights.

In this episode of the PROFIT BusinessCast, Gold and Brown look at some of the most pervasive themes across all 300 episodes.

Marketing is a hot topic, though Brown says they've mostly worked to clarify what exactly it means. "People think of it as a series of tools or as an extension of sales," he says. But over the series of podcasts, it's become clear that marketing plays a role in sales, as well as having an impact on reputation and retention. "Marketing is revenue, reputation and retention," says Brown. And what about social media? It's just another tool; it does not a marketing campaign make. And it also has to be connected to your overall strategy, stresses Brown.

How to be a great leader is another topic that comes up repeatedly. Business owners still grapple with how do we get people excited about something, whether it's employees or potential customers. "You can't have leaders without followers," says Brown. Leaders need to know, not just how to be charismatic, but who will follow and how to engage them.

"If you don't measure, you can't manage." We've heard it time and time again. But Brown says the message still hasn't gotten through. For a lot of entrepreneurs, cash is still king. "In Canada, we live on cash flow. And because all we're living on is cash flow, we're not looking down the road," says Gold, who names finance as one of the core issues addressed in the podcasts.

There have been a lot of episodes devoted to that first 100 days with a new employee. "A lot still don't understand the onboarding process," said Brown. HR in general is an area that continues to give even the most seasoned entrepreneur trouble.