Taking the plunge and flipping to my fixed

also was told by a person on the forum to take of the brake, and then later by the mechanic in my local shop when they saw I had switched to fixed.

^ these people are stupid, and you are also quite stupid for listening to them.

Wait till you are confident riding fixed before you start taking off brakes. If you ride around for a couple of months never touching your rear brake, then fine - whip it off. Don't do it when you are still at the practicing-in-car-parks stage.