By: Alex R. Thiersch, JD, CEO of the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa)

In business, every idea is valuable. Internal brainstorming can only offer you so much, since it may reflect your company's corporate culture in ways that limit its efficacy. However, from day-to-day, you are likely far too busy managing the operations of your business to seek out and consider ideas from outside your immediate circle. Therefore, it is important for business leaders to seek out ways to interact with peers from around the world in order to help develop new ideas and keep their companies on the cutting edge of their markets.

Participation in mastermind groups is a very successful way business leaders develop new and exciting ideas. Initially named by noted self-help author Napoleon Hill in 1925, this concept involves a group of entrepreneurs who get together to give each other support, talk about their business, knock each other down and build each other up, and make themselves available as resources. This idea isn't exactly new—for example, Benjamin Franklin founded a group called the Junto in 1727 that was designed to provide mutual improvement for its members. Franklin was inspired by numerous other similar groups throughout history. Nowadays, these groups convene once a month, usually as a teleconference, and during the meetings, each person will be given a limited amount of time on the "hot seat," when his or her ideas are reviewed and evaluated.

However, the structures of such meetings and even of the groups themselves are flexible and can be amended to better reflect the circumstances in which they exist. In the aesthetics industry, for example, many resources are available to practice owners and operators, but much of the information out there is very topical and may have limited utility for many members of the group. Therefore, a mastermind group based in the medical aesthetics industry might hypothetically benefit from a certain amount of curation—the groups should be kept small and grouped according to factors such as revenue, location, business cycle, personality, etc. Because the groups are small, the members can go into greater depth during their "hot seat" segments and learn more about issues endemic to their particular section of the industry. What's more, these groups should also consider having a business coach in order to help group members get into an entrepreneurial mindset to better build their companies.

People who have participated in mastermind groups typically give the process positive evaluations. When knowledge is coordinated in such a way, it provides tangible benefits to those who participate, and helps create accountability that often carries over to members' standard business. These groups can also help members look at problems and develop solutions in ways they wouldn't have otherwise, and encourage participants to reach for levels of success that they may previously have thought unobtainable.

If you find the idea of mastermind groups intriguing or potentially beneficial for your business, be sure to keep an eye on the news that comes out following The Medical Spa Show 2019, which takes place at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, February 8 – 10.