Graduate students at a distance require an advising approach that allows them to connect to their peers, faculty, and the University as a whole. In addition, they need to be empowered to develop transferable skills and self‐directed behaviors from the advising process just as they are through the learning process. Faculty from the adult education and training specialization at Colorado State University conceptualized and built a self‐directed advising model to achieve these goals. A framework drawing from previous advising and adult learning theories, such as the integrated lens of adult development (Baumgartner, 2001), self‐directed learning, and the integrative advising approach in conjunction with the program's teaching philosophy applies the conceptual model to achieve the aforementioned goals.