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AyRojgar

Content writing service

Writing for others for money. The capital is close to zero: a computer, a Tk 500 internet line and electricity. But writing job postings fell 21 percent within eight months of AI arriving, and demand is down 20-50 percent.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
Content writing service

Content writing service

Starting capital
৳31,720 – ৳65,544
Editorial estimate
Manpower
1 – 4 people
First sale
180 – 270 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
8 – 14 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Online · Medium difficulty

About the business

Writing for other people for money: website pages, blogs, product descriptions, ad copy, newsletters. In Bangladesh it splits in two. English writing is almost entirely for foreign clients and paid in dollars. Bangla writing is for local e-commerce, news outlets and brands, paid in taka and paid much less. There is genuinely almost no capital: a computer, electricity and internet. Broadband at 30 Mbps is Tk 500 a month under the BTRC-approved packages, and the weighted average retail electricity tariff has been Tk 10.63 a unit since June 2026. No shop, no stock, and no licence at all if you work alone. The rules for getting paid sit in one place, Bangladesh Bank's FEPD-1 Circular 22 of 22 July 2026: no EXP form, inward remittances up to USD 20,000 credited without Form-C, online gateways capped at USD 10,000 per transaction, up to 50 percent of net ICT earnings retainable in foreign currency, and leaving earnings abroad a violation of the law. The cash incentive is 2.50 percent for an individual freelancer and 6 percent for a firm; the 4 percent everyone still quotes is out of date. Of everything in this category, content writing has taken the most direct hit from AI. A 2025 study found writing job postings down 21 percent within eight months of ChatGPT's arrival, and demand for writing and translation down 20 to 50 percent. What survives is the writing a machine cannot do: work that needs reporting, interviews, and real command of a subject.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳832 – ৳10,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳9,700 – ৳41,000 / unitEditorial estimate
Variable cost৳832 – ৳2,500 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin72% – 94%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue180 – 270 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time8 – 14 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle3 – 10 daysPractitioner verified
Waste / loss30% – 40%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity1 – 8Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • A computer, an IPS or UPS, and a broadband line. Under the BTRC-approved packages from 27 April 2026, 30 Mbps is Tk 500 a month, 100 Mbps Tk 1,000 and 250 Mbps Tk 3,000, at the same rate nationwide. The weighted average retail electricity tariff has been Tk 10.63 a unit since June 2026.Equipment
  • Working alone needs no licence. Opening an office or agency in your own name, or contracting with local companies, needs a trade licence from the city corporation, municipality or union parishad, currently valid one year. Dhaka South City Corporation said on 16 August 2026 it will move to five-year renewal, and Tk 3,000 of the renewal goes to the NBR.Licence
  • Faultless command of whichever language you write in and real knowledge of at least one subject, plus fact-checking, citing sources and writing in a client's voice. In 2021 Bangladeshi freelancers billed under USD 10 an hour, and nothing lifts that rate except the quality of the language.Skill
  • An account with an Authorised Dealer bank. Under Bangladesh Bank FEPD-1 Circular 22 of 22 July 2026 no EXP form applies to service exports over the internet; inward remittances up to USD 20,000 are credited without Form-C and anything above needs the online Form-C (ICT); OPGSP repatriation is capped at USD 10,000 per transaction; up to 50 percent of net ICT service earnings may be held in foreign currency in an ERQ account (30 percent for other services) and the rest must be converted to taka. Dual-currency freelancer cards and MFS wallets are also allowed.Supplier
  • To claim the cash incentive the money has to come home. The circular of 5 July 2026 sets the FY2026-27 rate at 6 percent for firms exporting software and ITES and 2.50 percent for individual freelancers. The same rates applied through both halves of FY2025-26. Many write-ups still say 4 percent; that is out of date.Supplier
  • A quiet room at home and an IPS or UPS. Losing a draft to load-shedding and missing a deadline are both ways to lose the client.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Decide whether you write in English or in Bangla. English pays far more but competes with the whole world; Bangla has less work and lower rates.
  2. 2Pick a subject you actually know: health, finance, agriculture, technology. General copy is what the machine already writes.
  3. 3Write five or six samples and get them published somewhere. Without published work under your own name there is no first client.
  4. 4Price per piece, not per word. Per-word pricing is a race to the bottom against AI that you cannot win.
  5. 5Open a profile on Upwork or Fiverr but keep chasing direct clients on LinkedIn; it saves commission and makes the work steadier.
  6. 6Open an Authorised Dealer account and an ERQ account for ICT services; up to 50 percent of net earnings can stay in dollars.
  7. 7Keep every email, contract and platform statement; under the circular that is the evidence the bank credits the money against.
  8. 8Bring the money home and claim the 2.50 percent cash incentive through the bank. Nothing left abroad earns anything.
  9. 9Draft with AI if you like, but check the facts yourself before delivering. One piece with invented facts loses the client for good.
  10. 10Move towards the work a machine cannot do: interview-based pieces, case studies and reported articles.
  11. 11Push for monthly retainers rather than one-off pieces. Without steady income you end up cutting your rate in a bad month.
  12. 12If you build a team into an agency, take a trade licence; it is what larger local contracts and the 6 percent firm rate require.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitChattogram · The second city, with a dense base of export-facing companies and enough bank foreign exchange branches to settle in.
  • Strong fitDhaka · Most Authorised Dealer bank branches, freelancer cards and ERQ accounts are opened here, and local client and agency work is Dhaka-centred. The government's new Tk 683 crore training project runs through 13 metropolitan cities.
  • PossibleBogura · The trading hub of the north, with broadband and bank branches in place and rent a fraction of Dhaka's.
  • PossibleCumilla · Close to Dhaka, with many expatriate families and banks used to handling foreign currency.
  • PossibleGazipur · On Dhaka's edge, with lower rent and the ability to hold on to Dhaka agency work.
  • PossibleKhulna · Line costs the same as Dhaka under one country, one rate, and living costs less, so the same income goes further.
  • PossibleMymensingh · A supply of university and college students. Internet costs the same, but local clients are few, so work has to come off the marketplaces.
  • PossibleRajshahi · A university city with a supply of young people who write English, and the same nationwide internet price.
  • PossibleRangpur · Internet costs the same under one country, one rate, but load-shedding is worse, so a night shift is hard without an IPS.
  • PossibleSylhet · Expatriate links make foreign clients easier to reach, and broadband costs the same as in Dhaka: 30 Mbps at Tk 500 under BTRC's one country, one rate policy.

Risks and cautions

  • HighDemand: AI has eaten exactly this kind of work first. A 2025 Management Science study found writing and coding job postings down 21 percent within eight months of ChatGPT's arrival and visual design down 17 percent, with demand for writing and translation down 20 to 50 percent. Freelancers told The Daily Star on 20 September 2026 that income fell by up to 80 percent at first; Yousuf Tushar, twenty years in the trade, is down about half, and Kazi Mamun, fourteen years in, is down about 25 percent. Content writing is the most directly hit of these trades, and data entry, translation and transcription have gone the same way.
  • HighOther: Training is not income. The government's new Tk 683 crore project targets only 60-70 percent of trainees entering income-generating work, with income expected 3 to 6 months after a three-month course ends. A Tk 47.5 crore pilot in 16 districts in 2022 claimed 64 percent secured freelance work, but there is no independent verification. For almost everyone the first year is a year of nearly no income.
  • HighCompliance: Leaving earnings abroad is now plainly unlawful. Paragraph 9 of FEPD-1 Circular 22 says retention of export proceeds abroad in any form, including foreign accounts, assets or virtual assets, violates the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947. Yet The Financial Express reported on 2 May 2025 that 50 to 70 percent of the earnings of freelancers making over USD 800 a month never comes home. Nothing that stays out there earns the 2.50 percent incentive either.
  • MediumLate payment: On a platform the money waits through a mandatory hold, then the wallet, then the bank: 3 to 10 days in all. With local clients it is normal for payment to sit while edits are demanded, and without a written contract the whole fee can be lost.
  • MediumDemand: Nobody agrees on the size of the market, and planning on the big number is planning on air. Prothom Alo reported on 16 July 2024 that the state minister put ICT exports at USD 2 billion, the BASIS president at USD 1.5 billion, and former BASIS president Fahim Mashrur at under USD 1 billion. Freelancer earnings are USD 200-250 million by BASIS's count and USD 300 million by BFDS's. On numbers: 600,000-700,000 registered on platforms, but roughly 150,000 real ones.

Sources

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