Despite tough economic times, a Gates company, says positive word of mouth is helping its business grow. As they grow, they're also giving back.

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When Cathy Labrozzi started her typing and word processing business back in the late 1980s, she never imagined that today, the company would be all this.

"Never, never. If it weren't for Ron, we never would've gotten to where we are today. He saw the vision he knew what we could do, above and beyond what we were doing when we first started our secretarial service."

Ron is Cathy's husband. Together they went from their home's basement and created Mailstar, now at its Elmgrove Park location .

"We're technically at our fifth location and if we continue with the growth we're having, we're going to actually outgrow this spot and we'll have to go to another location," said Ron.

Mailstar is in the direct mail business. The company prints things like postcards and letters, then sorts them and mails them for customers.

Ron says they never did much advertising, but grew through word of mouth. They went from operating the machines themselves to today having seven full time and three part time employees. They're looking to hire more.

"During the last few years and the economy being as bad as it is, for us, it's been just the opposite. Things have been fantastic because a lot of people need to grow their business, and direct mail marketing is one of the ways to accomplish that," said Ron.

The company is doing so well, in fact, along with Christmas bonuses for employees, this year Ron and Cathy also gave checks to several of the not-for-profit companies that are their clients. The two hope the continued positive word of mouth just means more growth in the future.

"I'd like to see us double in the next two years and that is absolutely possible."