Ways to prove experience?

Hey all,

I am a new driver. I am not new to driving large trucks and trailers, and have driven medium duty haulers for a very long time, as well as having worked "with" Class 8 drivers many times over the years.
Until recently, doing business using Class C medium duty trucks and hiring out for the heavy truck work has been a strategic financial decision. A large fire at my place of business however made it practical to purchase a class 8 truck for *personal use*, and I have done so.
While I never intended to use this class 8 for-hire, circumstances are such that I am now trying to.

This leaves me in an awkward position as far as experience....and more to the point...*proving" experience.
I feel like I have way too many years sleeping at truck stops, and loading trailers, and navigating ice covered grades to need training for what is in almost every regard an easier and better equipped truck than I ran for decades.
Yet, at the same time, only having a CDL for about 10 months now puts me in the group with others that have considerably less road time (and sense) under their belts as far as hiring requirements.
It is my medium term goal to start a company that hauls machinery under my own authority... where I won't have to "prove" my experience to anyone to work.
In the short term though, I have to work and because my Class 8 was never used commercially, I have no documented time on it.

So my questions are:

1. What different types of documentation count as proof of "Class A, or tractor trailer, or OTR" time?

2. To start the clock, is there a minimum amount of hours you need, or can one just take a couple jobs for documentation?
For instance, if I get my own authority and hire out on paper for a few jobs, but then only take jobs randomly while I work as something else for a year, then technically do I have a year of experience (to the insurance company and places that hire)?

I'd just like to get this out of the way somehow and be able to take loads here and there without having to commit to driving a Swift truck for a year when I can already drive my own truck and trailers back and forth across the country any time I want (and have done so on only slightly smaller, harder to drive rigs for years).

I'd like to start driving now...in my own truck if possible. OTR, Intermodal...whatever, but if I can't due to "lack of experience", then what is the minimum I can do so that I'm not facing the same thing a year from now?

 

Yeah, but I'm not looking to work for Swift. I'd like to work for a company perhaps like XPO doing intermodal regionally.
I got my CDL 10 months ago, I drove my own truck all over with my own equipment...slept at truck stops with it (lol).
If they went by time-since-CDL, I'd only have 2 months to go, but I think they require some sort of business documentation...which I don't have because my driving time has been personal, in a personally owned truck.

Had I known at the time that this would be an issue, I would have...I dunno...worked for someone else for a month or whatever to "start my clock", but I don't even know if that would meet the requirement since all they say is "1 year experience" without saying how that experience is accounted for?

I'm starting to feel like the only way is to get my own authority and document my road time for a year just so I can go work for someone else?
And even if that's the case, I don't want to do that and then find out that I didn't document the right thing....and have to start over...just so I can drive a container 200mi.

 

No, easy to get insured if you have the cash.
It's finding a company to lease to that doesn't require 6-24months of experience that's hard.
Because I can't predict the future, i have no idea if I might need to work for one of these companies in a year (I'd like to right now), but I can't figure out what it is that they look at (DAC?) to figure out when you started driving a truck. Options might be DMV records (ie...when I got my CDL), or BOL's, or tax returns, or fuel slips, or ?
They are vague saying only "1 year experience"...etc.

 

Yeah...darnit.
Like I mentioned, I hadn't ever planned on needing a CDL beyond moving my own stuff. I need a time machine now.

Ok, so let me ask you all this...

The minimum I can find around here for experience is 6 months.

Owning my own tractor, is my only option to get authority and take loads from the boards, and if so... am I going to have trouble with those too?

Obviously I don't want to spend 10 grand in fees + buy a flatbed only to find out the brokers won't take me either.

... and if they will (or some will), what is the documentation I should be keeping so six months later I can prove experience to a company?

Many Thanks