Local Mexican traders were the first people to recognize the value of Juan Quezada's work. They bought Mata Ortiz pottery, including many pieces by Juan, to take to the United States. In the U.S., the traders sold the pottery and invested the proceeds in merchandise which they transported back to Mexico and sold. Those profits were then reinvested in pottery to continue the cycle of trade. Thus began the modern-day marketing of pottery from the Casas Grandes region. Juan Quezada cites the demand in the United States as motivating the early development of his pottery. "There was," he says, "a good market for pottery in the United States."

According to a 1994 article in Kiva, The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History, Juan left his job with the railroad in 1974. He hoped to earn a living solely by making pottery. Juan's leap of faith was rewarded in 1975 when a Mexican trader commissioned a large number of pots from Juan for resale in the United States.