whoahh

I've been researching for a few months now, reading hundreds of posts on many forums. I've looked over tutorials, etc. I am a reseller with my current host. Web Hosting is not my full time job and will never be, but it is something that I plan to do my whole life.
I've come across 2 viewpoints on resellers moving to dedicated:
-The first is that it will be easy to make the switch. There is lots of info online to help you learn and managed solutions will have staff to do things for you that you are not comfortable doing.
-The second side is the people who say that if you don't know how to administer a linux server then get the $^&% out of here.

I want to know how realisitc it is that someone who does not do this full time can successfully manage a server. I've worked in SSH before. I practiced doing things like installing APF on a box at home. I can follow instructions well. I'm worried that I don't know how to solve any problems that may arise. I wouldn't know if the server was being attacked. I don't know the locations of config files or logs that I may have to view on a regular basis.

Will all of the services (HTTP HTTPS FTP MYSQL IMAP POP SMTP ) be monitored for me and fixed proactively if they are down?

I'm pretty excited about the possiblity of getting a server in a data center that is actually located in my state, and city even!


Thoughts from anyone are welcome
Thanks