--- title: Private Paths sidebarTitle: Introduction description: >- Send a series of prompts by text message, and optionally email, that guide your members day by day. audience: luminary feature: paths type: introduction availability: live last_verified: '2026-10-14' keywords: - private paths - sms prompts - text message series - daily prompts - drip messages - journey - guided program url: 'https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/introduction' --- # Private Paths > Send a series of prompts by text message, and optionally email, that guide your members day by day. A Private Path is a journey of short messages your members receive over time: a 21-day journaling challenge, a daily reflection during a live program, or a companion to a course. You write the messages once and Soul sends them on schedule, in your voice, straight to each member's phone or inbox. Every path is one of two types, and you choose when you create it: | Type | How it works | | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Self-Paced Path | _"Prompts begin on day one and follow each subscriber's personal timeline."_ Each person starts on the day they join. | | Scheduled Path | _"Prompts go out on fixed dates. Subscribers receive whatever's scheduled during their enrollment."_ Everyone gets the same message on the same day. | **Warning:** You can't change a path's type after it's created. If you pick the wrong one, create a new path. ## When to use a path | If you want… | Use | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | A day-by-day practice that starts whenever someone joins | A Self-Paced Path | | Daily prompts tied to the real dates of a live program or retreat | A Scheduled Path | | Reflection prompts alongside lessons | A path paired with a [course](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/courses/introduction) | | One email when something happens (someone subscribes, buys) | [Automations](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/settings/automations) | | A one-off message to everyone | An [announcement](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/announcements) | | Video or written lessons people work through at their own pace | A [course](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/courses/introduction) | ## What members experience 1. A member finds the path in the Paths section of your portal, or opens a link you shared (`https://bringsoul.life/portal//paths/`). 2. They see the cover image, name and description, plus a status line: - Self-Paced paths say _"Starts when you join."_ - Scheduled paths say _"Next message: <date and time>"_, or _"No upcoming messages"_ when nothing is left to send. 3. They click Try This Path. If they aren't in your audience yet, they sign up first and are enrolled straight after. 4. Messages arrive at the times you set, in their local time zone. 5. They can stop any time with Leave This Path, or move to another of your paths with Switch to This Path. The button on the path page changes with the member's situation: | Member's situation | Button | | ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | Not signed in | Try This Path | | Signed in, but not in your audience | Subscribe to Access | | Already on this path | Leave This Path (with _"You're currently on this path."_) | | On a different path | Switch to This Path | | Free to join | Try This Path | | Can't be joined | Path Not Available | **Note:** One path at a time. Soul runs one path per person across the whole platform. Starting a new path pauses the one they're on, even if it belongs to another Luminary. Members are warned before they switch: *"Soul runs one path at a time, so starting this one will pause that."* ## Anatomy of a path A path is made of three things: the Path itself, its messages (the dashboard calls them schedules or prompts), and its subscribers. ### Path settings | Setting | Where | What it does | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Path type | Create dialog only | Self-Paced Path or Scheduled Path. Locked after creation. | | Cover Image | Create dialog (required) and the detail page | Shown on path cards and the path page. Upload your own or Choose from Gallery. | | Path Name | Create dialog (required) and the detail page | The title members see. | | Description | Create dialog (required) and the detail page | A short summary of the journey. Click Save Changes after editing. | | Publish / Move to draft | Top of the detail page | New paths start as Draft, hidden from your audience. Publish makes the path visible on your portal. | | Auto-subscribe | Schedule tab → New subscribers | Automatically enrolls new audience sign-ups into this path. | ### Message settings Add messages with Add Schedule on the Schedule tab. | Setting | Self-Paced | Scheduled | What it does | | ------------------ | ---------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Type | Yes | Yes | Prompt (_"A question or practice to sit with."_), Pro Tip (_"A piece of guidance, with nothing to do."_) or Task (_"One concrete thing to do."_). The type is a label for you only. All three are delivered the same way. | | Day | Yes | No | Which day of the member's journey: 1st day to 365th day. | | Date | No | Yes | The calendar date it goes out. Must be today or later, and on or after the path's start date. | | Time | Yes | Yes | Send time, in each member's own time zone. New messages default to 7:00 PM. | | Channel | No (text) | Yes | Text, Email or Text + Email. | | English message | Yes | Yes | Required. A plain text message. For the Email channel you get a rich-text Email body editor. | | Spanish (Optional) | Yes | Yes | Sent to members whose language is Spanish. Members without a Spanish version get English. | | Attachment | Yes | Yes | An image, video or audio file sent with the message. | You can also add many messages at once with Import CSV. See [Import messages from a spreadsheet](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/import-messages-from-a-spreadsheet). ### Subscribers The Subscribers tab lists everyone who has joined, with: - Subscriber, Joined, Status (Active, Left or Removed) and Delivery (for example _"12 / 15 delivered · 1 failed"_). - A search box and a status filter. - Add Subscriber, to enroll people from your audience yourself. - A detail panel for each person showing every prompt and whether it was delivered, with Send Now, Resend and Remove from Path. An Email only badge marks anyone with no phone number on file. Their text prompts fall back to email. Each prompt in the detail panel shows a delivery status: Scheduled, Delivered, Failed, Skipped, Mixed (text and email ended differently), Not yet or Missed (it went out before this person joined). Click Delivered to see the exact send time. ## Where it lives in the dashboard - [Offerings → Paths](https://portal.bringsoul.life/paths) lists all your paths. Filter by All paths, Self-Paced or Scheduled, or search. Each card shows the type, a Draft pill when unpublished, and a menu with Edit and Delete. Published paths also have a quick share button. - Click a path to open its detail page: - Left side: cover image, Path Name, Description, Save Changes. - Header: type and status pills, the subscriber count, Publish or Move to draft, and a ⋯ menu with Copy link, Share to X, Share to Facebook, Share to LinkedIn, Share via device and Delete Path. - Tabs: Schedule (auto-subscribe, your messages, Add Schedule, Import CSV) and Subscribers. - [My Portal → Design](https://portal.bringsoul.life/portal) → Soul Paths shows your paths on your portal. ## Statuses and lifecycle | Status | What it means | | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Draft | The starting state. Hidden from your audience. You can still build it and add subscribers by hand. | | Published | Visible on your portal and joinable by your audience. | Each message on a Scheduled path also shows a delivery status in the schedule list: Scheduled, In progress or Sent. Once a scheduled message has gone out, it can't be edited, only deleted. ## Limits and good-to-knows - Text is the default. Self-Paced paths send by text message. Only Scheduled paths let you pick Email or Text + Email. - No phone, no text. If a member hasn't turned on text messages, text prompts are delivered by email instead. With Text + Email, they get the email only. - A path needs at least one message before anyone can join it. - Paths are for your audience. Visitors can browse a published path, but they need to sign up to your portal before they can join. - Late joiners on a Scheduled path only get messages dated after they join. Use Send Now on their subscriber panel to catch someone up. - Self-Paced start day: if the time of your 1st-day message has already passed when someone joins, their whole schedule starts the next day. - New messages reach current subscribers. Messages you add to a running path are scheduled for everyone already on it, as long as the new message falls in their future. - Joining a path is separate from joining your membership. Tell new members about your paths, or switch on Auto-subscribe. - Email results: ask [Soul AI](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/soul-ai) how a path's emails performed (opens, clicks, unsubscribes). Text messages don't report opens. ## Guides - [Run a 21-day self-paced challenge](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/run-a-self-paced-challenge): A daily practice that starts whenever each person joins. - [Send prompts on fixed dates](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/send-prompts-on-fixed-dates): A Scheduled path for a live program, retreat or season. - [Pair a path with a course or event](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/pair-a-path-with-a-course-or-event): Reflection and practice prompts alongside your teaching. - [Welcome new members with a path](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/welcome-new-members-with-a-path): Enroll every new sign-up in a first-30-days journey. - [Send a path by email](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/send-a-path-by-email): An email-only or text-and-email sequence. - [Draft a path before launch](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/draft-a-path-before-launch): Build and test privately, then publish. - [Add or edit messages on a live path](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/add-or-edit-messages-on-a-live-path): Extend or fix a path people are already on. - [Import messages from a spreadsheet](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/import-messages-from-a-spreadsheet): Upload a whole schedule at once with a CSV file. - [Get members to join your path](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/get-members-to-join): Share it, show it on your portal, or enroll people yourself. - [Manage who is on a path](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/manage-path-subscribers): Check deliveries, resend a prompt, or remove someone. - [Retire a path](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/paths/retire-a-path): Stop new sign-ups, wind down, or delete.