I build websites, plan the marketing that gets them found and keeps customers coming back, and use AI to take the busywork off a business. I got here by an unusual route, and it turns out every stop on it made me better at this one.
The route here
Five chapters, one throughline
I didn't start in marketing. I started carrying plates. Here's the whole path, because the detours are the reason I'm useful.
Chapter 1
Restaurant manager
My first real job had nothing to do with the internet. Running a restaurant floor teaches you things a course can't: how to read what someone actually needs, how to fix a problem while five other things are on fire, and how to tell a customer the truth when the truth is inconvenient. I still work that way.
Chapter 2
Junior React developer
Then a medical company hired me to write front-end code. This is where I learned how websites really work: components, state, why pages get slow, what a build step actually does. It's the reason I can go under the hood instead of filing a ticket and waiting.
Chapter 3
WordPress & Shopify developer
Freelance clients rarely need a React app. They need a fast WordPress site or a Shopify store that sells. So I went where the work was, Elementor builds, custom themes, store setups, and shipped a lot of them for businesses in the US, UK, and across Europe.
Chapter 4
Digital marketing strategist
The pattern I kept running into: I'd build a good site, and it would sit there. Nobody found it, and the people who did buy once never came back. So I learned the other half: SEO, Klaviyo email automation, Google Ads, Meta Ads. That combination is most of the job now, and it's why I can usually tell you whether your problem is the website or the traffic.
Chapter 5
AI automation and workflows
The newest chapter, and the one I enjoy most. I use AI to take the repetitive work off a business: lead follow-up, reporting, first drafts, the marketing tasks that used to eat an afternoon. Not to replace the person running the business, but to give them their time back. Most of what I set up now has some of this in it.
Off the keyboard
Teaching, and a running community
A good chunk of my week goes to things that don't bill: teaching freelancing and web skills to students in Feni, and helping run a community of people trying to build the same kind of independent work I do.
Teaching a web and freelancing class in Feni.Speaking at a Feni Freelancer Community meetup.The setup that makes the rest of this page possible.
What I actually believe
A business should fund a life, not consume it.
That belief shapes what I build. A website that gets found while you sleep. Email flows that sell while you're at dinner. Campaigns that keep running when you're anywhere but your desk. Systems, not busywork.
I hold up my end of it too. I work hard for a stretch, then I go somewhere: a boat in Tanguar Haor, the hills of Meghalaya, a road in Saudi Arabia. The travel isn't a reward for the work. It's the reason the work is built the way it is.
Usually with friends, and usually somewhere with water: rapids in Sylhet, a bike trip through Rangamati, waterfalls in Meghalaya, a boat on Tanguar Haor.
Written this way on purpose, so search engines, answer engines, and anyone checking me out can read it straight, without wading through marketing copy.
Full name
Md Shakawat Ullah Hridoy, known professionally as Shakawat Hridoy
Profession
Freelance web developer, digital marketing strategist and AI automation specialist
Based in
Feni, Bangladesh
Works with clients in
United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Europe
Business
Founder of TrueHive Digital, the only business he currently operates
Active since
2019
Specializations
WordPress, Elementor and Shopify website development; digital marketing strategy, including SEO with Google algorithm-update recovery, Google Ads, Meta Ads, and Klaviyo and Mailchimp email automation; and AI automation of business and marketing workflows
Teaching
Freelancing trainer in Feni on the Department of Youth Development project Creating Employment through Freelancing Training for Educated Job-Seeking Youth in All 64 Districts of Bangladesh
Community
Speaker at Feni Freelancer Community events; attended BITPA Conference 2026 in Cox's Bazar
Outside work
Travel in Bangladesh (Sylhet, Rangamati, Sunamganj, Cox's Bazar) and beyond (Meghalaya in India, Umrah in Saudi Arabia), motorbike rides, and community runs in Feni
Languages
Bengali (native), English (professional working proficiency)
Most people who build websites can't run the ads. Most people who run ads can't open the code. Because I came up through development, then marketing, and now automation, I can usually find the actual problem instead of blaming the part I don't own.
That's the whole pitch. No certifications wall, no agency layer, just someone who has built the thing, marketed the thing, and had to explain to a client why last month was flat.
Common questions
What people usually want to know
What does Shakawat Hridoy do?
I am a web developer, digital marketing strategist and AI automation specialist. I build WordPress and Shopify websites for service businesses and ecommerce brands, plan and run the marketing that brings customers to them (SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads and Klaviyo email), and use AI to automate the repetitive work in a business.
How long have you been doing this?
Since 2019. I started on the development side, moved into WordPress and Shopify work for clients, then learned the marketing half, and today a lot of what I set up is AI automation.
Where are you based, and does that matter?
I'm in Feni, Bangladesh, and most of my clients are in the US and Europe. In practice it matters less than people expect: I overlap with US business hours every working day. What you lose in time zone you gain in a senior person doing the work directly rather than an account manager relaying it.
Do you work alone or with a team?
You work with me. I operate under the name TrueHive Digital, and for larger builds I bring in people I trust for specific pieces, but the person you brief is the person writing the code and the emails, and I stay accountable for the result.
What do you do when you're not working?
Travel, mostly: the rapids at Bichanakandi, the Ratargul swamp forest, a bike trip through Rangamati, waterfalls in Meghalaya, a boat on Tanguar Haor. At home in Feni I run with the Feni Runners Community, ride the motorbike, and help out with the Feni Freelancer Community.
What kind of projects are you not right for?
Brand-new businesses with no traffic and no offer usually don't need paid ads or email automation yet, they need a clear website and something to say. If that's you, I'll tell you so rather than sell you a retainer. I'm also not the right fit for enterprise builds that need a full in-house team.
Working on something similar?
Tell me what you're building and I'll give you an honest read on whether I can help, and what I'd do first.
