How hard is it to run a database?

Maybe the database itself, yes (at least for the basic requirements). However, all you’ve got then is a MySQL database and that’s useless if you want to have non-programmers interact with it. Most of the work is going to be to design a good user interface.

I’d outsource it. Have a look at [url=Need Help with Simple Programming - #2 by hypermegaglobal thread[/url].