The first phase of growth is make or break for new businesses. Half (49.4%) of small businesses fail within the first five years after opening, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while aesthetics can be a lucrative market, it’s far from a set-and-forget business model.

That’s why AmSpa’s Medical Spa Boot Camp has been tailored to go beyond the foundation of how to open a med spa. This is a two-day intensive training focused on the crucial first five years of growth that transform a newly opened med spa into an established practice. Fully redesigned from the interactive instruction to one-on-one guidance on practice management and enhanced connections with your aesthetic peers, the Medical Spa Boot Camp is your key to med spa success.

Everything that’s new about AmSpa’s Medical Spa Boot Camps

New Learning Lunch with exhibitor roundtables 

Leading brands will be hosting roundtables during lunch to answer your questions and use their expertise to discuss solutions for your medical spa. These are seasoned professionals interested in developing partnerships and providing solutions you need, not just selling. 

New consult with AmSpa

AmSpa's Education Director will hold one-on-one consultations about your business, staff and practice operations. Drawing on two decades in aesthetics, she will identify areas of improvement and make suggestions to bring your med spa into alignment with best practices.

Kirstie Jackson is the director of education at the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa). She has worked internationally with exceptional aesthetic, dermatology and plastic surgery practices since 2005. Her multifaceted expertise spans business development, leadership, marketing, patient engagement, software transitions, compliance, training and clinical research. She has previously been on the executive board of the Association of Dermatology Administrators and Managers and believes creating a strong foundation is the key to success. 

New fully redesigned courses

Practice fundamentals take the stage more prominently with improved conversations on leadership, managing teams, engaging in the patient experience, and the ABCDE method to identify areas of growth in your practice. Presentations are tailored to the unique needs of practices in their first five years and include more interactive elements, tools and resources to support your growth plan.

New AmSpa Connect chat groups

Continue your networking and information sharing with our online chat groups created exclusively for attendees of this event. AmSpa Members can join online chat groups with alumni from other Boot Camps to build their networks and connect with med spa professionals from across the country who have been through or are going through a similar growth journey. Learn from each other's mistakes as you continue to grow and test these strategies for success.

Meet the agenda reboot

Friday

6 – 7:30 p.m. Friday Kickoff Networking Reception
Arrive early to enjoy an open bar and passed hors d’oeuvres while networking with fellow aesthetic professionals and presenters of the Boot Camp, Academy for Injection Anatomy Advanced Cadaver Course, and Ultrasound Fundamentals. 

Saturday

8 – 8:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 9 a.m. Opening Keynote

9 – 9:30 a.m. The ABCDE’s For Your Aesthetic Business
Being an aesthetic entrepreneur doesn’t stop at the idea. When you already have a revenue generating business, what happens next? This session looks at how you take things to the next level using the ABCDE method, A - Very Important, B - Important, C - Nice to Do, D - Delegate, and E - Eliminate. Topics include: Business, procedural and HR trends adopted by most successful businesses | How to create a growth plan for your business or notice indicators for change | How to identify when to add providers, physical space or administrative staff to better serve your patients | How to upscale and increase revenue | Software, tools and industry professionals who can help you

9:45 – 10:30 a.m. The Financials
This session will demystify aesthetic practice financials to help you better understand your business. Overview of important financial statements – discover the best practices on regularly reviewing your financials | Understanding cash flow and how to maximize it | Increasing profitability – Identifying the opportunities to increase revenue and decrease expenses | Creating a budget - the revenue formula, estimating expenses, predicting cash flow | Ongoing measurement and follow up of financial metrics and goals | Shared case study

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. Morning Break

10:45 – 11:30 a.m. Sponsored Talk

11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Patient Experience is Everything
Successful patient engagement directly relates to the experience they have with your aesthetic business. This session explores the avenues of engagement and why they are so crucial to your patient outcomes and financial success; What is patient engagement and why is it so important | The expectations our patients have | Which tools can be helpful in managing patient engagement and experience | An unbiased view of software and practice efficiencies | Mitigating poor experiences – what to do if something goes wrong and how to turn a frown upside down

12:15 – 1:15 p.m. Learning Lunch
Table Talks with Experts: Representatives from leading brands will be hosting tables to answer your questions and grow partnerships
Consult with AmSpa: Get complimentary one-on-one consulting about your business, staff and practice operations

1:15 – 1:25 p.m. Sponsored Talk

1:25 – 2:55 p.m. The Law & Compliance
The necessary health check for your business covering essential aesthetic law and practice compliance Overview of regional rules and regulations affecting the medical spa and aesthetic industry | Current hot-topic state-specific issues affecting the industry| Ownership: Who can own a medical spa? | How best to structure a corporation | Medical spa supervision and delegation: Must a physician be present and examine every new patient | Patient privacy | Medical advertising | Reputation management and responding to negative reviews

2:55 – 3:25 p.m. Afternoon Break

3:25 – 4:10 p.m. Consultations That Convert
The most important part of a successful medical spa is getting patients in the door and getting them to purchase treatments. In this session, attendees will learn how to move someone from curious to customer. How to make consultations as profitable and useful as possible | Who should be performing the consultation | Determining whether it should have a price tag | Data points, tracking methods and benchmarks | Consultation demo with audience member

4:10 – 4:20 p.m. Sponsored Talk

4:20 – 5:10 p.m. The Marketing Plan and Social Media
Marketing techniques and avenues: Which ones are right for you? How to develop and write a marketing plan, step-by-step | The importance of digital marketing and how powerful it can be | Timing and frequency. Budgeting benchmarks. Marketing tips and tried-and-true techniques | New marketing avenues that show promise | Identifying the best social media outlets for your business | Developing a social media strategy that aligns with your goals and manpower

5:15 – 6:40 p.m. Drinks and Appetizers

6:40 – 7:10 p.m. Dinner with Educational Keynote, Sponsored by Galderma

7:10 – 7:40 p.m. Book Signing and Photo Opportunity with Dr. Surek

Sunday

8 – 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Culture, Staff Management and Successful Leadership
Managing a staff, whatever the size, is often the most challenging part of running a successful practice. Here we look at: A deep dive into the often-overlooked areas of people management | The importance and purpose of employee engagement surveys | How to execute constructive feedback, progressive discipline, progressive leadership skills | The difference between being a leader, a manager or “a boss” | Emotional intelligence and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Accessibility (DEIBA) | Group activity

9:30 – 10 a.m. The Team
The best medical spas all cite to their team members as being the most important aspect of their success. This section will teach you how to find the right personnel; how to interview, train, and coach your team so they are loyal and successful; and how to compensate and incentivize staff profitably. Topics include: Recruiting, interviewing and selecting the right team | Implementing a performance-based compensation model | Charting career paths | Employee retention | Investing in training and coaching | Rewarding and recognizing your team

10 – 10:30 a.m. KPIs: How Knowing Them Will Maximize Revenue
Financial Key Performance Indicators (or KPI’s) are how you apply financial knowledge to specific metrics and day-to-day success measures. Topics include: How service mix categories will keep your bottom-line revenue healthy | How to use data to increase hourly value | Which KPI’s you need to measure, how to measure them, and what to do now that you have the data | How to increase overall profitability | Important numbers and common mistakes | How to run a KPI meeting with your providers | Examples of financial statements

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. Morning Break

10:55 – 11:30 a.m. Tried & True: Combination Treatments & Skincare for Optimal Results
Skip the guesswork and get proven advice on how you can expand your repertoire of services to both improve clinical outcome and boost revenue. What services are commonly offered and why | How to pair combinations together to drive better outcomes | Pricing treatments appropriately | Trendy vs. tried and true | How to select a new device, treatment or service | How to onboard a new service to your practice | The AmSpa checklist

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The Aesthetic Industry Success Panel
This panel brings together industry professionals who will share their experiences and answer your questions. Panelists may include local med spa owners, experienced industry professionals, providers, influencers, and/or legal compliance experts.

12:30 – 1:15 p.m. Lunch and Closing Business

Who should come to the redesigned Medical Spa Boot Camp?

Owners, practice managers, operations directors or other decision makers of a medical spa in its first five years of practice are best suited to take full advantage of the enhanced practice management portion of the program. The AmSpa Boot Camp has solutions to help you tackle practice fundamentals and operational challenges, with a curriculum designed by an education director with two decades of practice management experience in plastics and derm practices.

You’ve built your aesthetic practice. Now it’s time to look more closely at your daily operations: your team, your finances, your patient satisfaction, (and double-check your legal compliance) to make adjustments that will help you reach and exceed your business goals.

What will you take away from the event?

Practical Education. The redesigned medical spa Boot Camp integrates more interactive tools into each presentation, including charts and checklists, formulas, example statements, case studies and demos. Attendees also receive a presentation handbook, PDFs of each presentation and reference materials to refer back to as the blueprint for the next stage of your practice.

Personalized Advice. Come away with customized solutions to address your business needs. Work directly with exhibitors to discuss your business needs and discover whether their solutions make sense for your practice. Chat with AmSpa Education Director Kirstie Jackson for a consultation to identify gaps and set your business up for long-term success. 

Professional Connections. Develop an expanded network of aesthetic professionals, mentors and business partners who will serve as a resource. As you navigate these changes and strengthen your business, your professional community is an essential source of support during times of change, growth and the adoption of the next “it” treatment that reaches the aesthetic market.

Discover what you’re missing at the Medical Spa Boot Camp

As aesthetic veterans like to say, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Do your team a favor and take a step back from your business for a weekend. The space and intentional time spent learning from industry experts will give you the big-picture perspective and clarity needed to help your med spa level up.

AmSpa hosts its first business training of the season on July 18 – 20, 2025, in San Diego, CA. Don’t miss industry royalty Dr. Kay Durairaj and national trainer Katie Martin, PA-C, as they share their business best-practices on the Aesthetic Industry Succes Panel. Learn more about the San Diego Medical Spa Boot Camp and register today!